Battleship Mutrad
by grandvizier527
Summary: The story is meant to serve as the season finale for the episodes I've written, and its 3 chapters represent episodes 28, 29, and 30. Modula sents a powerful starship, several times larger than Titan itself and commanded by both Mutradi and Galalunan traitors. Can our heroes destroy it before it annihilates Sherman and them?
1. Chapter 1

Episode 28: Battleship Mutrad, part 1

DISCLAIMER: ALL CHARACTERS MENTIONED IN THESE STORIES ARE COPYRIGHTS OF CARTOON NETWORK. I HAVE NO AFFILIATION TO SYM-BIONIC TITAN OR ITS CREATOR, GENNDY TARTAKOVSKY. I AM SIMPLY TRYING TO EXPAND ON HIS EXCELLENT WORK, NOW THAT THE SHOW, WHICH HAD SO MUCH POTENTIAL, HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

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At the King's desecrated palace, hundreds of thousands of Mutradi foot soldiers(The grayish-brown ones that look like dinosaurs) stood at the ready, along with several human troops, as well as a few peasants in the local area that had been forced by the General himself to show up to this gathering as proof of their loyalty. Upon seeing their glorious General stepping out onto the balcony, they saluted him in one sychronized motion. Modula made his announcement:

"We have made progress in our two-front war, my troops. On this planet, we have completely surrounded and overome one of the three major divisions of resistance. After gathering his followers, the individual formerly known as Lucius, the King of Galaluna, thought it would be wise to divide his troops into three armies, accompanied by civilians, so that they would not all be captured and killed at once. The three armies have constantly been changing positions underground, and it has been a long and diffiicult search to find them. Whenever our forces attempt to subdue them, they show heavy resistance, than retreat like cowards to new positions when we recover from their surprise attacks. We have reduced the once proud Galalunan military to mindless guerilla warriors."

"Look who's talking," muttered a peasant in the crowd.

"And now we have found the positions of one of their so-called "armies" and are now surrounding the military personnel on all sides. They are being slaughtered as we speak. When they are all dead, we will take civilians as prisoners."

At this, the Mutradi cheered, while the loyal Galalunans gasped in shock.

"And that's not all," Modula continued. "The new Battle Station is complete. It is incredibly powerful, and it is guranteed to kill Titan, Edward, and possibly the entire population of Earth. We need to strike at the defenseless king's family and friends before we can finish him off," the General explained. "If it succeeds, all hope will be lost for the King, and we will easily flush him out of his hiding place. That is why this mission must not fail. You will not return home until you destroy everything there that can be used against us. You all have been training to work on this Battle Station for months now. It is time you see what you will be using to destroy a city, perhaps even an entirely planet."

At this, Modula pressed a button on the wall from inside his/the King's palace. A giant, 3-dimensional hologram was displayed in front of his audience. They stared at it with awe. It was a massive ship, and five times as long as Titan was tall. Modula knew he could easily wipe out the King and his forces with it. But that would be far too easy. Like Lance, the general enjoyed the thrill of real battle, having never faced the bitterness of defeat in combat. He had always wanted to go out with his troops and fight alongside them, but should he be killed, all would be lost. He had to stay put for his own safety. But that would change eventually. As for the ship, it was equipped with over 400 laser cannons which covered the top, sides, and underside of the ship. It had four large fuel jets the size of elephants, each spouting blue flame. Giant spikes were located on the bow of the ship, protruding about fifty feet in front of it. These would serve as horn-like weapons with which to pin Titan against a wall or building. 24 giant missiles were stored on the underside of the ship. And finally, its massive laser cannon resting between the front spikes, capable of firing enough energy equivalent to annihilate a city, provided that the blast was concentrated long enough. And then Modula instructed the Mutradi to follow him to the hanger, the same one from which Lance, Ilana, and Octus left their beloved home. All the Mutradi present-all 600,000 of them-entered the deadly ship, which was waiting for them there. A few Galalunan troops arrived, including one that all too familiar to Modula.

"Baron! I'm appointing you to command this Battle Station!" the General declared as he and the others were embarking.

"I'll do my best, General!" Baron replied, saluting. "So, which soldier will I be gunning down to get to the Princess, anyway?" he asked, his heart racing to meet the beautiful princess face to face for the first time, and to crush her assumed suitor.

"Oh? Did I not tell you?" Modula asked. "My apologies, Baron, I don't think I've told you until now; the tracking devices I placed on some of my creatures showed that it was Lance who-"

"LANCE IS ON ANOTHER PLANET?! WITH ILANA-I MEAN, THE PRINCESS?!" Baron cried. "I won't fail you, General!" Baron shouted with a smile on his face, an expression he thought he would never wear upon hearing Lance's name. He ran inside the ship as Modula called out, "Yes, lieutenant! Go fulfill your lust for the princess and your hatred for Lance at the same time! Just make sure to bring the Princess back alive!"

Baron nodded, indicating that he understood as the ship's hatch closed, and the Battle Station took off. "This is gonna be fun! I'll get to win the princess, and kill my rival!" Baron yelled to the Mutradi and other humans on board, who could really care less.

"The young," another Galalunan traitor said to his Mutradi comerade, rolling his eyes.

"I don't get it," the Mutradi replied.

As it took off, Modula wondered if he had just sent everyone aboard to their deaths. Or was he bringing the death of his enemies to them on a silver platter?

And where were the three teenaged aliens who brought hope to this world and the next? Why, at the mall, of course! They had split up in pairs upon their arrival: Lance went with Kristen, Ilana went with Jason, and Octus went with Kimmie. Our heroes and their dates were shopping, eating, or just hanging out. Similar thoughts went through their minds: The satisfaction that they were indeed, normal-at least by Earth standards. Who knew what the others back home would have to say about all this? But they gave that little thought. They enjoyed themselves here. Provided, of course, that there were no Mutradi, as they would soon encounter today...

Lance went with Kristen to the music store. "Y'know, normally I just buy songs on my iPod, but sometimes I just want to listen to something in a different way than I usually do," she told him. "You want anything? I've got enough money for both of us," she continued.

"Nah, I'll just look," he said. Lance grabbed an albums of various rap, heavy metal, rock, and adult alternative bands he never heard of. It was difficult to find something that didn't have a "Parental Advisory" sticker on it. Lance tried listening to as much as he could. By listening to Earth's music, maybe he could learn more about them-or himself, or something like that. Lance failed to understand the words of the rap and heavy metal, but he could understand what the singers-rather, speakers- were feeling. The rappers seemed to be frustrated with life, desparately wanting to do violent crimes just to vent out their confusing emotions. Lance wondered if that was how they really felt, or were they just paid to make songs like that? When he tried the heavy metal, he found that a number of the songs of this genre had excellent electric guitar performances-which Lance seemed to like-but it was all just electric guitars and amplifiers, no drums or keyboards whatsoever. And the singers weren't singing at all, just yelling out things, sometimes with no real meaning behind it. He tried the rock. He found the rhythm to be to his liking, and he could understand what the singers-who were actually singing this time-were saying. But he tried the adult alternative, just to see if he liked it. The lyrics of most of the songs were interesting, but they all talked about love and relationships. After listening to all that music, Lance decided that there was no genre for him. It was all great, but if he wanted music he that could really feel like it came from him, he would just have to make his own. He just couldn't truly feel the same messages that the music produced. After feeling somewhat unsatisfied with his results, he told Kristen what he had been thinking.

"Well, you know how music is: There's so much to choose from, but you're not gonna like everything," she said. They left the music store and went over to Mrs. Field's cookies. Whoever this Mrs. Field was, she was an excellent baker, Lance thought. "Lance! You gotta try one of these! Kristen begged. She bought him just a regular chocolate chip. When Lance took a bite, he felt as if he were in a sugary sweet heaven. "Great", he said, trying to hide his bliss. When Kristen ordered her own cookie, she sat down with Lance at a nearby table. "Hey Kristen", said Lance, "Do you really think that there is such thing as 'soulmates,' like you said we were at the party?"

"Ok, I was actually trying to be a little flirty there. But just a little. As for the question, well...yeah. I think that there might be someone out there for almost everybody." She smiled at Lance sweetly, "Maybe we really are soulmates for each other, like I said at the party...what do you think?" she asked jokingly.

"Well, I guess...we won't know unless we keep doing this," said Lance. "I've gotten to know your personality a little better since our first date, and let's face it, we seem to agree on things. But... I feel like there's something I don't know about you. And we can't have secrets if we're gonna be soulmates, right?"

"True", said Kristen, keeping her calm. In fact, she did have something to hide. Something that turned some guys off. Something that she didn't tell them unless she could trust them and get them to join her. But none of them had done that yet. They never understood. Would Lance? She wasn't quite so sure yet. "But I was thinking the same thing about you, Lance. Could you tell me a little more about how you came to America?" she asked. "If it's not too personal."

OH, CRAP! Lance thought. He couldn't just tell her he was an _alien_! He had to think fast. He hadn't been trained for situations like this! "Well, I..." he began his long, made-up story of his parents who raised him in Canada, touching breifly on the fictitious journey his family made from Ottawa to Vancouver. It seemed like that worthless project he had to do on Canada in Social Studies the week before would be useful after all! Kristen knew nothing about, though, since she had a different Social Studies teacher. As he monolouged, he thought whether Ilana and Octus were in situations like his own...

Speaking of Ilana, she and Jason were over at Gamestop. Jason's idea, not Ilana's. He hadn't listened to her when she said she wanted to try on scarf she saw. And the whole time he kept talking about a bunch of things called Pokemon that she had never heard of. Now she really wished Jason had never forgiven her after she sang that stupid song to him. What had she been thinking? Jason was sweet and nice, but he just didn't feel like the one. Any other girl would do fine for him, she figured, but why did he pick her? Then Ilana remembered: because she was probably the only girl who was ever nice to him. He had probaly never gotten farther than a second date. Had other girls been thinking exactly as she had? Ilana felt a little sorry for him. She didn't want to spend the rest of her life with him, but she didn't want to shatter his already broken heart. If only Jason knew how to act around girls, maybe she could give him some self-confidence, and he could ask a different girl out. One who would like him despite his clumsiness and flaws. Ilana knew she had her own flaws, too, but Jason's were just more obvious to everyone. She knew she couldn't try to change him, but Jason would have to act a little differently if he wanted to keep dating her...

"Hey, Ilana! Wanna watch me play this?" he said, whipping out small device with two screens and a pen tucked inside it. And so she had to watch him play for a few minutes unitl...

"Jason, can we talk?" asked Ilana.

"Sure. What about?" he asked.

"Look, I...think that maybe...you shouldn't be playing video games on our date. I mean, let's do something we can both have fun with."

"Well..." Jason's tone turned serious. "I would, but...we can't agree on anything. Let's face it; I think we're gonna just...have to be friends." He took a deep breath. "Ilana, there's something I want you to know," he began. "The real reason I wanted to date you was...I wanted a cute girlfriend. It...it's not fair how guys like your brother can pick and choose who they want, and I'm just stuck with nobody. Ilana, do you realize you're the only girl who hangs out with me, ever? I kinda broke up with Mirabel after the dance, by the way. You see, Ilana, without a girlfriend like you...I feel like a loser. Girls don't like me because they only look at me from the surface, not at the heart like you do. When they look at Lance's..uh...physical appearance, they're just attracted to him and don't give a second thought about me!" he complained. "In case you haven't noticed, Ilana, there's kind of a social ladder in high school, and the way I've seen and heard people talk about you, and from the way they talk about me, we're pretty much on the lowest rung of the ladder possible. I figured it would be easy to date a girl at your level because people always fall in love with people who are in the same social class. So really it was only you are or Mirabel, and you're prettier, so...I chose you," he said somberly. "Ilana, if you leave, I'll have no one to love me. So please, just...try," he said.

"Oh, Jason," Ilana began. "I..." she looked in his sad eyes. How could she say no to those cute button eyes? "I'll stay, no matter what. Besides, what about when we looked up at the stars out the countryside? That was one of the best moments of my life. Jason, that wasn't just a one-time thing. I'll stay with you."

"You'll still be my girlfriend, then?" he said. "Oh, thank you, Ilana! I promise, I'll try to be a better boyfriend for you! In fact, I'll start by ditching this video game and go do whatever you want to do, ok?" he said.

"Well, it's the least I could do," replied Ilana. "I mean, you gave me a second chance, so I should give you one, too," she said. But a part of her thought: What if Jason and her were meant to be? And if they weren't...how would he feel when the time came for them to break up?

But she didn't want to dwell on that. Her thoughts drifted to that half-off skirt that was sold only at this one store she wanted to go in earlier, and if she hurried...

Octus, meanwhile, was in a cosmetics store on the other side of the mall. Kimmie was spraying various chemicals on the palm of her hand. She held up her hand to Octus. "Check out this one!" she said.

So Octus analyzed. His visual sensors failed to pick up any useful data, but his olfactory receptors(or as the Earthlings said, his nose) was filled with the aroma of various chemicals. "This compound produces a fragrant scent, therefore qualifying as perfume," he said to Kimmie, thought she knew that already. "The scent is produced from a tree that only grows in three distinct regions of..."

"No, Newton!" Kimmie laughed. "I mean does it smell nice?" She always thought it was cute when Newton "analyzed" something instead of just looking, or hearing, or smelling whatever the object was. But this time she needed a real answer. Why was that so hard for him?

Why is giving her an adequate answer so difficult for me? Octus thought to himself. Octus inhaled the scent from the perfume. He collected the same data as before. But he couldn't say the same answer twice.

"Do you not like it?" Kimmie asked.

Octus thought to himself. Did he _like_ the scent of the perfume? Well...the chemicals, upon being perceived by his sensors, seemed to calm and soothe him. So the answer had to be yes. "I do like it", he replied.

"Okay...how about...this?" she washed off the perfume sample and sprayed a new one on her hand. Octus "smelled" it. This one produced an aroma similar to those he had registered on various exotic fruits. The scent was refreshing, but nearly overwhelming. His sensors had difficulty in storing so much data and stimuli. "It's a bit too strong," he replied. After smelling more perfumes, Octus found one that would be perfect for Ilana to use on herself. It seemed to produce a scent that male humans seemed to be stimulated by. Octus himself found it to be somewhat altered by it as well. Fascinating, he thought.

Afterwords, they went over to a clothing store. Octus didn't see the point in buying clothes for himself, seeing as his only set were holographic and never needed to be washed. But Kimmie insisted. Lance, he recalled, just had a bunch of purple shirts and jeans that looked alike. Ilana, however, had all sorts of outfits. Octus found it difficult to catagorize them all. She had something different for every season, occasion, and mood. But Octus knew this information was simply trivial. He picked out some shorts and t-shirt. Summer was coming fast, and according to Ilana, he couldn't dress like a scientist every day. He analyzed the fabric of the clothes and copied them. When he came out of the dressing room he had been analyzing in, discomfort overtook him. He pulled Kimmie aside and presented himself. "Does this make me look...obese?" he asked. "You can be honest," he added, expecting her to be so.

"No! Not at all! It's goregous on you!" Kimmie lied. Really, everything made Newton look fat. But he could detect a lie, unbeknownst to Kimmie. "You shouldn't lie, Kimmie," he said. "Especially not to me."

"Well..." Kimmie thought. "Newton, you're sweet, but you have all this...width," she said, spreading out her arms to show him how wide he was. "I know it's tough being...plus-size, but it's better than being...me," she said. "You could wear whatever is out or in, and no one would care."

"What do you mean?" Octus asked.

She sighed. "Newton, do you know how hard it is to be me? I have to have this perfect body all the time. And I've got to do something and get recognized. That's why I'm cheer captain. Because my family is kinda rich, I'm gonna be popular no matter what. I've gotta have or wear whatever's trendy, this month and the next. And that's not the only price I have to pay for being popular." Octus scanned Kimmie's emotions. She was...sad, he noticed. "Remember how I used to make fun of Ilana's outfits?" she asked him.

"I do recall that," said Newton. "That wasn't very nice of you."

"No. It wasn't nice at all. Well, I mocked her because we popular people have to assert our authority over the low-class people, and sadly, Ilana's one of them."

"I theorized that after everyone called her a 'doofus' that first day of school," he said. He turned and placed his hands affectionettely on Kimmie's shoulders. She didn't back away. "But like I told you when I tutored you in Geometry, you don't have to live to any of the world's stereotypes. If you want to, you can set a positive influence for other people," the robot suggested to his girlfriend. "Just because you're popular doesn't mean you have to be mean."

"No, see, that's not how it works," she replied. "Besides, my reputation is already at stake just for hanging out with you. You see, popular people can only date other popular people. I really like you, Newton, and I've learned to put up with you and your 'bathroom' thing. But...I don't think my friends understand. They see all this as a joke. And they'd never let it down if they knew I was serious about you."

Octus thought about what she had just said. Then, suddenly, an emotion washed over his circuits. Confidence? Inspiration? Whatever it was, Octus was ready to tell Kimmie something reassuring and important.

"Kimmie, who cares what they think? If we're happy together, even if we are not on the same social class, if we love each other, we can date. And I've grown to love you, Kimmie." And it was true. Octus remembered when he, Lance, and Ilana first arrived at Sherman High. Octus tried to classify everyone there into categories, such as "jock" and nerd", but when he got to know Kimmie better, he placed her into a class all on its own. She had a special place in his memory banks. "Kimmie", he continued, "If you were looking for happiness in popularity, you were wrong to look there. True happiness is when you are with people that care about and love you, like me. And if your friends ever abandon you because you do or say something unpopular, I won't care. I will always be there to understand you."

Kimmie was stunned. She took Octus and kissed him on the cheek, not caring who was watching. Octus' computer systems nearly crashed, almost overcome with stimuli. Or was this what the Earthlings called...affection? Whatever it was, Octus was unsure of its strange power. But it made him love Kimmie more. And then...

The Rift Gate opened. He told Kimmie he had somewhere important to be, and it wasn't the bathroom. Octus ran as fast as his holographic nerd legs could carry him, grabbing Lance and Ilana as they were talking to their dates. The teens said their brief goodbyes, then left the Omega Mall's interior, leaving their dates concerned until a loud speaker announced some news to all shoppers:

"Attention! There is level 10 hazard approaching the city! Everyone head to the shelters immediately! This is not a drill! The Sherman Police Department and the mayor of the city have just issued an order for all citizens to evacuate the city. The giant aircraft outside is of unknown origin. But your main priority now is to follow the police and evacuate to the disaster shelters." The message was repeated several times, making sure everyone heard the dire news. Kimmie, Kristen, and Jason were lost in the sea of people who were desperately leaving the mall almost immediately after the message was broadcasted several times. When they got outside, they got in their cars and left in the opposite direction that the "hazard" was moving. After everything Sherman had been through, no one would dare invent a hoax disaster. They all parked their cars at the shelter, a small, one story building with several underground floors made for disasters like these. Our heroes' dates met up with each other shortly afterward.

"What do you think happened?" Kristen asked the others as they headed inside and proceeded to the underground floors of the shelter. People were hurrying all around them, and most had a look of panic in their eyes.

"I don't have a clue!" Jason cried over the sea of people that were fleeing deep into the shelter.

"Yeah, me neither, but why did Newton and the others leave so quickly?" Kimmie asked nervously. Kristen and Jason, realizing what had happened, became just as alarmed as she was.

"What do we do?" Jason asked. "Should we look for them?" As soon as was done speaking, General Steel, of all people, burst through the door, his troops swarming the facility with food, aid, and other supplies.

"We're sealing the entrance! There can absolutely be no entering or exiting this facility until the disaster has passed!" he cried.

"Our friends are in danger!" Kristen protested. "You gotta let go find them!"

"Don't defy my orders! Get down to the lowest levels of the shelter possible!" Steel said, handing each of them a supply of food, water, and various other goods. Then, he shoved them towards the sea of people still fleeing down the stairs of the shelter.

"Newton!" Kimmie cried. Her boyfriend was in danger, and she didn't even get to know why? Kimmie felt like screaming in frustration. This was all Titan's fault! she thought. If he had never come here, all these monster would never be here! And then maybe Newton would stop leaving her right before every-Kimmie realized something.

Edward stared in shock and horror at what he saw. "Solomon! Come see this! It's a battle station!"

Sololmon was taken aback by the size of the ship appearing on radar. It was as five times as long as Titan was big! "What in the name of...was this some sort of Galalunan-Mutradi joint project?"

Edward nodded. "It would appear so," he replied. "I had a feeling that Modula would ally himself with the Mutradi, as we've seen with all these monsters he's been sending, but I didn't think he could arrange for something this massive to be made!"

"Right then," Solomon replied. "I'll arrange for your evacuation from this facility. Where do you wish to go, sir?"

"No, I can't evacuate and leave you and Titan to fight them alone while I hide like a coward," he replied.

"But sir," said Solomon, "If our airship tries to fight them, we may all be in danger. Including you. And once they realize that you're on here, they'll kill us all!" he said.

"True. But it's either they kill Titan and they win, or they kill us, so that Titan has a chance at winning. It's a risk we have to take. I know I told you that I wanted to stay hidden until we finished working on the Rift Gate duplicate. That way, they and the Mutradi would only find out I was alive when I was ready to take them back home. But now we should do everyhing necessary to help my son and the princess. If I don't, they may die. And because of me, the Earth will die with them," he said sadly. "And I will not allow two planets to succomb to Modula's reign of terror. And I certainly won't allow the Mutradi to kill my son! Take us to Sherman," he commanded. "And Solomon... if things get bad, keep fighting to the end! For your planet! And for your children and your wife, my first interplanetary friend," he said. "If we succeed, then we have saved many lives. And if we fail...you will see your family again," said Edward, heading off in the direction of the aircraft hanger.

Solomon watched Edward leave for the hangar, probably to debrief the troops, which was usually his job. But he could tell that his Galalunan friend felt like he had to take charge this time. Solomon had always been against having Edward reveal himself to Lance until he had completed his Rift Gate duplicate, and so did Edward himself. Solomon remembered when Edward had repaired Octus for them in secret, back when Steel tried to attack G3 in the Hammer, and when those three Mutradi all showed up at once. When Octus was revived and everything had returned to normal, Edward had ordered for G3 to leave the area. Surely the three Galalunans still curious as to who revived Octus. That would be the case no more, Solomon thought. These were desperate times. Besides, Lance needed to see his father after five years. If only his wife were here, Solomon thought as he followed Edward into the hangar.

"I hope you know what you're doing," he said to himself.

Octus grabbed his friends and flew up to the rooftop of the mall, not caring if anyone saw them. "What's the big deal, Octus? If it's some Mutradi, can't we wait till-" Lance began.

"No; it's no Mutradi," he said. "I brought you both up here you so you can see the starship I detected emerging from the Rift Gate. I couldn't pick up much data on it, but we need to be ready to form Titan, immediately as it shows up."

"How bad can it be?" asked Ilana. "It can't be that-" she began. But then a small shape appeared in the distance. The three of them watched as the ship got closer, until it was just a five miles away. They saw its cannons, its lasers, its missiles which could almost break Titan's outer armor in one shot, the powerful rockets, the spikes, and the machine gun turrets. There was also a disc-like shape further off behind the Battle Station. Was it G3? It didn't matter. Octus grabbed the two teens, still in shock, and placed them on the ground in the parking lot of the mall. Most of the people who hadn't evacuated were fleeing the city.

"Should we form Titan yet?" Lance asked.

"No, not here; we should relocate in area that the Battle Station has already passed over, and form Titan behind them there. Perhaps we can intercept them," Octus said.

The trio flew off from the top of the Omega Mall and traveled across town, the giant ship hovering over their heads.

Baron was inside the captain's seat of the ship, looking pleased with himself for being in charge of the thing.

"Baron, we've detected armor signals almost directly below us," one of the Galalunans said. "What should we do?"

"Just drop a bomb on them; if it doesn't kill them, we can least wipe out a few of these ugly-looking Earth buildings!" he replied.

Steel, meanwhile, was barking orders at his troops to get ready for one hell of a fight as they "secured" the shelter. Steel turned on his portable military radio, or walkie-talkie, as those hooligans called it-at least, that's what he assumed they called it- to contact Steve "Babyface" Stevens, the soldier that had once infiltrated Sherman High. "Private Babyfa-I mean, Stevens, come in!" Steel called.

"I read you, sir!" Babyface said as the troops he was with were sealing off the exit to a different shelter at the other end of the city. He walked outside and surveyed the sky. The Battle Station was getting closer. "I've checked with the other troops, and according to them, almost everyone is accounted for in the shelters, save those kids."

"You mean the aliens?" Steel cried excitedly. "Great! Maybe the thingy killed them off for us!"

"Unconfirmed. The troops are currently on standby, awaiting your orders. The foreign aircraft should appear in-holy steamroom!" Babyface cried.

"Steamroom?" Steel asked aloud. "Aw, never mind, whadaya see, Private?"

"G-General, the aircraft is right over the city faster than expected! And it's huge!" Babyface cried. "We don't stand a chance!"

"Oh, it can't be that bad?" Steel asked.

"See for yourself, sir!" Babyface cried as Steel stepped outside. Steel raised his eyebrows as the machine passed over the downtown districts of the city, less than a mile away. But he wasn't intimidated.

"It'd be terrible all right, Stevens, if we didn't have the Hammer, that is!" he laughed into his radio. "Tell the boys to send a chopper over here so they can drop me off back at the base to go get it!"

"General, don't you remember? The scientists building it said it would take months, maybe a year, to rebuild the Hammer. We can't use it now, otherwise it'll just get destroyed again!" Babyface answered.

"Aww...but I wanted to use the Hammer!" Steel cried in a somewhat whiny voice. "Looks like we're just gonna have to do without it! Babyface! Mobilize our boys!" Steel ordered.

"Yes, sir!" he answered. Turning on all channels, Babyface announced, "I've just got word from Steel! We're movin' out!" Soldiers from all of the shelters immediately went outside after leaving behind a few troops to secure the civilians. It wouldn't be long before they could get the tanks and aerial support to arrive from the nearby Army base. The remaining soldiers set up a TV which picked up feed from news helicopters flying over the city. They were at a safe enough distance to look at the Battle Station.

"Folks, I have no clue what exactly we're looking at, but this giant Battle Station is unlike anything I've ever seen! Perhaps Titan can help us once again." the anchorman stated.

"Yeah, but where are you, Titan?" Kimmie asked herself as she watched the TV from inside the shelter.

"It's gonna release a bomb!" Lance cried as he grabbed Ilana and Octus as they sped through the city. Lance was going as fast as the Manus armor could allow, but as he was flying away, Ilana broke free of his grip.

"We can't let that thing hit the city!" she cried as she watched a hatch from below the ship begin to open. Before Lance could stop her, she sped back below the Battle Station as it dropped its bomb. Ilana stood right in its path and fired her powerful white laser.

"Ilana, wait!" Lance cried. He went to the scene of the explosion, worried that Ilana wouldn't be there. But as the smoke cleared, he and Octus saw that she had, in fact, destroyed the bomb before it could hit.

"Are you crazy?!" Lance shouted at her.

"I couldn't let any innocent people down there get destroyed, or have their homes demolished!" she cried.

"What about our plan of regrouping behind the Battle Station?" Octus asked.

"I don't think it'll work now!" she said. "Let's just form Titan and make our stand!"

"If you insist," Octus said. "Initiating Sym-Bionic Titan!" When Titan had been completely formed underneath the ship, Baron was shocked as it charged its Alpha Cannon.

"What? I thought we blew them up!" he cried.

"Sir, the bomb didn't even hit the ground. We believe that Ilana destroyed it in mid-air," answered one of his suboordinates.

"No matter! Titan can't hurt us!" he said, snickering as he thought of how he would finish the giant robot off...

The TVs from inside each of the shelters picked up Titan forming, seeming to appear from midair, in the perspective of the viewers.

Titan prepared to fight for its life and those of the other humans. First, it immediately ran out from underneath the Battle Station as it tried to fire its guns at it. Facing the ship's starboard side, Titan fired its massive Alpha Cannon, which had just finished charging. But then...the blast seemed to hit the ship, cause no damage whatsoever, and reflect back at Titan. It had no time to react, and the Galalunans faced the full intensity of their own attack. Buildings were crushed as Titan collapsed to the ground.

"AGGGGHHHH!" cried Lance. "What just happened?"

"The blast apparently was reflected back at us," replied Octus. "The Battle Station may have some sort of powerful force field around it."

"Of course it does," said Lance, sighing.

"Okay, let's try-" Ilana began. But then the ship turned on a dime, and its bow was facing Titan. It fired its guns and 4 of its giant missiles. All the individual blasts hammered Titan. Lance, Ilana, and Octus felt as though they were being pelted with millions of large spears, with four deadly, explosive punches thrown in for good measure. "Outer armor has shattered," Octus reported.

Indeed it had. All of the clear plating that surrounded almost all of Titan's body was gone. It was as if someone ripped off its "skin". And before Titan could move again, the jets from the ship's stern fired up. At rapid speed, the battle station used its massive spikes to pierce its mechanized chest. Lance and Ilana seemed to share the pain together. But it didn't stop until Titan was slammed against a building, its body still jammed in the battle station's spikes. And then...

"It's firing a massive laser cannon!" cried Octus.

"We're gonna die!" cried Ilana.

"No, we won't! Power down!" yelled Lance.

Titan obeyed. Our heroes found themselves on the ground near the building they had been pinned up against. They were now Manus, Corus, and Octus now. Before Ilana and Octus could so much as breathe-or in Octus's case, reboot his systems-Lance started issuing his commands:

"Okay, guys, they've gotta have some shield generator thing protecting them from all of our attacks. It's probably inside the ship, so we're just gonna have to break in and blow it up. Ilana, you look for the shield generator of the ship, Octus, you take out anybody in the control deck if you can, and I'll go find the power source for the rockets so that they can't move! Understand?" he said frantically.

"Yes, I do!" she replied. She was frightened. But she couldn't show that to Lance. He had given her a job to do! Suddenly, the knowledge that her people needed her more than ever sunk in. If they hadn't destroyed Galaluna with this thing...there was no way of knowing, but she had to stay positive. "Let's go!"

"Affirmative," replied Octus.

"Baron, they've powered down, and they're heading underneath the ship!" one the men in the control room cried.

"What?! Uh, okay, uh...send some troops to cover the area where they're gonna break through!" he cried.

"What about the Earthling military that have fired at us?" A Mutradi asked in broken English.

"They are of no concern, since they can't hit us. Focus your efforts on killing Ilana and her allies!" Baron commanded. At his words, several Mutradi that had been waiting for orders ran out of the control room.

And so they flew up to the underbelly of the ship. Ilana raced up first, providing a force field that blocked the dozens of turrets firing at her. From behind her, Lance used his own machine guns and missiles to take out several of them. The explosions of destroyed turrets didn't faze the rest of the ship. After about two dozen were wrecked, he unsheathed his axe an flew ahead of Ilana. Octus, meanwhile, fired enough electricity at a small group of turrets. The electricity was used to shut down the power to a good portion of the turrets, rendering them useless. When Lance reached the underbelly of the ship at last, he used Manus' axe to strike at the hull repeatedly. Eventually he made a small hole. He kept hacking away until the whole was big enough for Manus to fit through. He could see a few surprised Mutradi troops standing inside. "We're goin' in!" he cried. "Get ready!" They each flew into the hole at that Lance had made, ready to face their first wave of enemies.

Baron, meanwhile, was growing panicked, unsure of how to deal with this sudden predicament.

"Baron, they've entered the ship!" A Mutradi cried.

"I know that!" he replied. "Uh...You and the others stay here and defend the control deck if they come in here, and I'll go see if I can't take any of them out!" he shouted, running down the corridors of the Battle Station.

"I'm coming for you, Lance," Baron said under his breath. To him, settling an old score was more important than ensuring that the Battle Station was defended.

Upon arriving inside the ship, the trio discovered that dozens of Mutradi foot soldiers were waiting for them. Some of the beasts fired their guns, others tackled, still others used their fists. They piled on our three Galalunans like flies to a corpse. Ilana fired as many lasers in the crowd as she could, delivering kicks here and there on the occasional Mutradi which dared to ambush her. Lance swung his axe left and right, hoping to slash at whatever came his way. But then he remembered that the princess was the one they were going for. Or were they going for all of them? Octus did his part, too, wrapping his gel around as many foes as he could and firing his powerful electric blasts. He realized they were getting nowhere. Time for a solution, Octus thought. He wrapped his gel around Manus and Corus like a bubble, ejecting out any Mutradi that he accidentally caught in with them. Lance and Ilana were surprised to see Octus's "head", along with their robots, inside a twenty-foot blue bubble. He had formed "gel bubbles" to protect them before; they didn't know he could make one that big. Octus connected his cables on the inside walls of the bubble, sending electricity coursing through its outer edges. Octus then moved his bubble along with Lance and Ilana. The electrified sphere dashed through the corridors of the ship at breakneck speed. The Mutradi had no time to react. Some were smashed against the front of the bubble, their bodies being fried with so much electricity. Ilana turned away from the charred bodies, but Lance looked on indifferently, his eyes trying to process the rapidly changing scenery in the hallway. As Octus moved along the hallway at blinding speed, Lance thanked his robot ally, straining his voice to be heard over the sounds of crackling electricity.

"Thanks, Octus! Now that you've taken a good portion of Mutradi, could you drop me and Ilana off at the main power source of the ship?" he asked.

"That would be right...over...here," said Octus, suddenly coming to a complete stop. They were next to the entrance of a door. Octus spat them out. "You two have fun," he joked, speeding away to the control room, still an electrified bubble. Lance and Ilana turned their armors back on and burst through the door. They found a large, silver room, along with plenty of Mutradi waiting for them. They attacked, and Lance and Ilana fought them off. Lance fired his missiles and guns on Mutradi at a distance, while simultaneouly hacking away others with his axe at close quarters. Ilana fired her laser blasts at every position in the room. She formed a force field around herself to charge her white laser. She turned off her force field as it fired itself at her foes. Mutradi were killed instantly. But they continued to stream from the door at the far end of the room, showing no signs of major loss of numbers. Lance and Ilana used their robots' jets to fly to the other side of the room. Mutradi attacked and slashed and shot at them from all sides. But our teenagers didn't give up. They fought through, struggling to get to the next door. They fled down another hallway, the Mutradi at their heels. Ilana turned on Corus's targeting computer. "The shield generator's on the next door on the left!" she said.

"Great. I'll help you get inside, then you're on your own. I'll hold off the Mutradi around here before looking for the power source for the jets, but only for a little while. You be careful, ok?" he warned.

"Don't worry, Lance," she said. "I'm not just some damsel in distress. I can take care of myself," she replied. Was she smiling underneath the Corus armor? Lance couldn't tell. He thought breifly of how their relationship to each other had changed in the past: before, he only cared about the mission, like he usually did now. But then he had discovered some of the nicer things on Earth: girls, music, and how to keep hope alive when all seemed lost. He recalled that once, waking up at 2 am one night, he had dreamt about her. But he couldn't remember much of it. Kristen wasn't there, he remembered, and neither was his dad. All he remembered was that Ilana was there, smiling.

Then he and Ilana opened the door and encountered the Mutradi inside the small, ovular room. It had a few panels with random flashy buttons, but the main thing there was a small yellow orb suspended by some wierd energy flowing into it as it floated inside a metal tube. Ilana fired her white laser at the Mutradi in the room, sweeping it across the walls and floor. The generator was unfazed, but the Mutradi fell like a house of cards. Lance turned off his armor and watched from just outside, admiring that the princess could clear a room of enemies by herself.

"That was pretty cool," Lance said casually, slightly embaressed by speaking his mind.

"Thanks," she said as she turned around, turning off her armor briefly. Lance stared at her smiling face a few seconds, then, remembering his objective, gave a salute to Ilana and ran down the corridor, activating his armor as he left her presence.

"Good luck," Ilana said when he had gone. For reasons that she wouldn't understand until later in life, she added the words, "My soldier."

Lance flew with his jets over to the rear of the ship. That was obviously where he could cut off the jets, the engine, and maybe the power generator. If he could do that, the ship would be dead in the air. Perhaps...

Inside his Manus armor, Lance fought off the hundreds of Mutradi that swarmed him. He fired missiles into the crowd, hoping to kill a few before they even reached him. But they still came. From other hallways, from rooms, some caught him by surprise. How many are here, he thought as sliced away at as many as he could with his axe. They leapt at his armor from all sides; Lance could barely shake them off. He just had to keep moving, flying through the corridors with jets until he reached the end, firing his machine guns to brush off the ones that had attached themselves to him. Then, he saw it: a medium-sized door at the end of the hallway, with strange characters on it. Lance assumed it was written in Mutradi. He had heard a few speak in their strange language before. Lance crashed into the door, ignoring the Mutradi that were in the room, operating the jets and maintaining the engine. Lance used his axe and the guns of Manus to kill them all in seconds. Lance knew he didn't have much time. Mutradi would be pouring in here in minutes. Lance checked his surroundings. The door he had entered from led into a small platform that served as a control deck for engine and the power generator. A mass of bizarre devices, switches, and buttons were just in front of him. The platform itself that was supporting him and the panels with all the strange buttons and switches overlooked a network of conveyer belts, which were carrying some clumps of weird rocks to a massive furnace in the back of the room, which cast an orange glow. Lance quickly realized that whatever mineral was being burnt here was being used as fuel for the Battle Station's jets. He fired a few missiles at the conveyer belts, rendering them useless. The ship's jets should stop working eventually, he thought as he smashed the control panels on the deck. Everything gained an eerie silence the moment he finished. Lance suddenly grew suspicious as he realized that the Mutradi should have apprehended him by now. They were certainly aware of his location, along with Ilana's and Octus'. Then, his armor began to flash as he received a message from Octus. He answered it.

"Octus, what is it?" Lance asked.

"Did you shut off the jets of the Battle Station?" he asked.

"Yeah, but how come it's not sinking?"

"I checked into that. The ship has anti-gravity chargers housed inside its outer hull; we can't destroy those without taking down the entire ship, so we'll have to destroy it using Titan after Ilana takes out the shield generator."

"Okay," Lance replied. Then something struck him as odd. "Wait...those anti-gravity things you mentioned...the Mutradi don't know how to make those. That was invented by Galalunans just before the coup," Lance pointed out.

"Yes, I was going to inform you of the analysis I have gained from the ship's computers," Octus said. "I have concluded that this could have been a joint project between them and any Galalunans that betrayed the King," Octus said. "Therefore, I advise you to be on the lookout for anyone on this ship wearing a Galalunan uniform. There is a high chance that they will be hostile."

"Would they...hurt Ilana?" Lance asked, dreading the painfully obvious answer.

"...We must take it under consideration," the robot replied. Before Lance could respond, he turned off communications. Refocusing on the mission Lance whipped out his axe to destroy the control panel in front of him. But then, a voice spoke behind him:

"Now Lance, we can't you have destroying everything we've worked so hard to acheive, can we?"

Lance turned off his armor and turned around in shock. There stood a white haired young man who had grown a small beard since Lance last saw him. "...Baron?!"

"Surprised? We haven't seen each other in _so _long," Baron said in a bitterly sarcastic tone that made Lance briefly considers spitting in his face. "You've grown quite a bit, it seems. How's your dad? Still dead, I hope?" Baron continued, his face a hideous grin.

"Shut up, Baron!" Lance yelled, taking a step forward. He remembered to restrain himself. If he was too angry at him to think, he'd have no chance against his old rival in combat, which they both knew was inevitable. "What are you doing here, anyway?"

"Guess," he said.

"Are you...with the Mutradi?" Lance said, his voice wavering. Baron nodded. Lance growled quietly before giving his response.

"I knew you were a total jerk to me, but this is just low, even for you! Joining the Mutradi!" said Lance disgustingly. No wonder he hadn't seen Baron during the coup! Lance had a feeling that he wasn't the mastermind behind this. But Lance couldn't think about that right now. He had a score to settle. "Alright, Baron, talk; who do you answer to now?"

"Okay, I will," he replied, chuckling. "I proudly serve the man who controls the Mutradi; the man who was abandoned by our own so called 'king' several years ago. The same guy that busted us for fighting in Manus robots. Have I given you enough hints yet?" Baron asked, still grinning maliciously as ever.

"General...Modula?" Lance asked. "But...he's been dead ever since he, the King and the others went on that expedition to Mutrad! The King told me that he saw him die, and..."

"Wrong!" exclaimed Baron. "Our General has been the one sending you those Mutradi Mega-beasts- the giant monsters-ever since you came here! I'll tell you the progress we made so far: After taking the castle, the King and all the people who stayed by him-that is, everyone still alive-all ran and hid underground. His so called 'Majesty' divided what was left of his people in three different armies, each accompanied by a few tenacious civilians. When we took over pretty much the whole planet, they held out in their cute little 'resistance' areas. Well, it wasn't long before we overran one of the 'armies', which we greatly outnumbered, by the way, and we took all the civilians as prisoners. The General needs people to serve and obey him, after all. We haven't found the King yet, but it shouldn't take us too long. So, tell me, how's Ilana doing? She still single?" he asked mockingly.

"The princess is none of your concern!" Lance shouted, turning on his armor. Baron responded by doing the same.

"It's too bad that neither your dad nor precious little princess are gonna get to watch as I kill you," Baron said nonchalantly.

"Enough talking, Baron!" Lance said, unsheathing his sword. And so their battle in the engine room began, with the only witnesses a small unit of Mutradi that had just appeared from the doorway to watch the spectacle.

**Author's note: I think I had a review to this, but I can't seem to find it anymore! Probably because it was a guest review...anyway, I'd appreciate some constructive criticism, fan theories, questions, comments, concerns, etc. Once enough people review, I'll post the next episode after this 3-parter! And yes, it involves Edward!**


	2. Chapter 2

Episode 29: Battleship Mutrad, part 2

DISCLAIMER: ALL CHARACTERS MENTIONED IN THESE STORIES ARE COPYRIGHTS OF CARTOON NETWORK. I HAVE NO AFFILIATION TO SYM-BIONIC TITAN OR ITS CREATOR, GENNDY TARTAKOVSKY. I AM SIMPLY TRYING TO EXPAND ON HIS EXCELLENT WORK, NOW THAT THE SHOW, WHICH HAD SO MUCH POTENTIAL, HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

T

Ilana had been firing her laser at the shield generator for a while now. But it didn't show sparks, or move, or anything. Mutradi were pouring in the room. Some of them tackling her, she put up her force field just in time to defend herself. She fired her laser, sending it sweeping through the growing crowd of Mutradi. She fought them from inside her bubble, firing both her white and blue lasers at once. But the more Ilana fired at the Mutradi and the walls, the weaker the later became, and the former were able to gang up on her in great force. One of the Mutradi that had a blaster in its hands shot at her force field, finally destroying it after it had taken a condsiderable amount of hits. Ilana crashed to the ground, face up, as Mutradi overtook her. She struggled to her feet with kicks and punches, barely managing to stand upright. The princess knew she couldn't last much longer. She watched, helpless, as one of the Mutradi towered directly over her fired a blast straight at her heart.

But as it made impact, a shockwave of energy emitted from her armor when a Mutradi aimed its gun at Corus' heart, killing all the Mutradi in the room. Ilana was surprised. She didn't know her armor could do that! Perhaps it was some kind of "emergency" shockwave. But she didn't think too much about it. Acting quickly, she inspected the instrument panels at the far end of the room, which was otherwise empty save for the shield generator, to see if there was some way to shut the thing off. She pressed various buttons on the computer, completely clueless as to what each one did. If Octus was here, she thought, he could get this done! But he was at the control panel, and that was probably far more complicated to disable, even for a robot. After taking five minutes to figure out the controls, she arrived at a screen which demanded an access code, and a keyboard popped up from under the control panel. Ilana had no idea what the passcode could possibly be. What could she do?

Suddenly, a lone Mutradi burst into the room. It growled in broken English, "Remain where you are! Make no sudden-"

He had scarcely arrived when Ilana turned her armor and demanded for the passcode, rushing at the beast until she had it pinned against a wall.

"Tell me the passcode for the generator!" she cried.

"Never!" the Mutradi answered. But he quickly changed his tune when he saw the heart on Ilana's chest begin to glow as she prepared another laser.

"Typhonox! The passcode is Typhonox!" the Mutradi shrieked, running out of the room and knocking Ilana aside. She couldn't help but chuckle. Why were Mutradi so much more cowardly when they were alone? She typed in the strange word, not thinking much about it. And lo and behold, it worked! The generator dimmed and finally died, and when she shot a single laser, the generator exploded, with various parts scattering in the room.

But then some Mutradi burst through the door. There were even more than there were last time a group had tried to attack her. They leapt at her while she was stunned. They attacked so rapidly, that it wasn't long before they shattered her armor. She thought it was all over when suddenly:

"Excellent work, Mutradi. The General will be pleased." Ilana turned to see who had said that. She nearly gasped when she saw that it was another Galalunan. She recalled Lance saying that the invasion of her home was also a coup, but they had no clue as to who would be attempting to bring himself into power now. Though she knew he couldn't be trusted for betraying her father, she asked with defiance, "Who's this General? As a citizen of Galaluna, answer your princess!" she cried. The man who she had spoken to snickered. Ilana had to remind herself that she had no power over traitors.

"Don't make me have to fight you!" she cried.

The man laughed. "You're in no position to bargain. And even if you were, would really kill your one of your own?" the man asked her as he whipped out a needle from his coat pocket. Ilana sighed and thought about the question she had posed. The very idea of killing a fellow Galalunan, even if he was a traitor, was sickening to her.

"You betrayed my father and my kingdom and want to kill me," Ilana replied to the unknown officer, "But...I can't kill you. No matter how awful your crimes."

"Your empathy and kindness are your two fatal most flaws," the soldier mused mockingly. "Perhaps if the King had had a son, instead of you, he would have done a better job of defending his kingdom. And a Galalunan prince certainly wouldn't need a love interest to protect him," he said as he walked over to Ilana and injected the needle into her arm. The princess knew she had no chance of escaping now. Ilana felt her conciousness slipping, and her last thoughts were those of malice for the soldier, furious at him for his sexist statement. If she wasn't in such bad condition, she would've been able to obliterate him, she thought. Had the others suffered the same fate?

Octus made his way into the control room easily. He killed the Mutradi inside with mass electrocution, and began to work on hacking into the control room. Just by placing his hands on it, he overrided the machinery. In milliseconds, his suspicions of this battle station being a joint project were confirmed. The software was Galalunan, but seemed to be written in Mutradi characters. A voice called out from behind him:

"Stop, machine!" Without turning around, Octus knew that this was one of the Galalunan traitors. Octus turned around, now finished with his work. He realized with the greatest fear that a machine could feel that this particular soldier was carrying an unusual weapon. Upon scanning it, Octus realized it could fire lightning bolts similar to those that made up that strange energy creature that had "killed" him some time ago. For once, Octus could make no response. Quick as a flash, he compressed his gel into a bubble as the traitor fired his gun. Just one shot from that weapon could kill me, Octus knew. Before the traitorous soldier could react, Octus reappeared behind him and shocked the man. Octus had no guilty thoughts of killing this soldier. After all, he was a traitor, and he deserved no sympathy, he thought as the electricity coursed into the soldier's veins. The traitor collapsed on the ground in the control room, dead. Octus, for unknown reasons, turned on his Newton hologram and frowned at the man he had just killed. Suddenly, he felt a wave of guilt that he had hoped would be supressed.

"No," he said aloud. "You posed a threat to my safety, and because you betrayed your planet, you deserve no less than the punishment for treason. But...why is this so hard to carry out?" Octus thought. "How many more Galalunan soldiers that once served alongside those like Lance will have to be killed?" Octus turned his hologram off and fled the room. Rounding a corner, he saw dozens of Galalunans and Mutradi, all carrying the same weapon that the first guy had. Realizing the danger, Octus immediately ran back the way he came at rapid speed. But he suddenly stopped as he saw more troops flood the other hallways. Soon, they had him surrounded. There was no escape.

"Surrender or prepare to die!" A Mutradi shouted in his native toungue. Octus knew what he had said. And he did as he instructed, placing his hands above his head. But only to fire an electric surge. The blast killed dozens and wounded more. The guilt of killing the first traitor had gone now. Octus now realized that it had to be done to protect the princess. He briefly glimpsed a soldier firing his bolt-shooting gun at him. It caused him to feel a sharp electrical pain coursing through his entire system. His core, his memory banks, his scanners, his hologram matrix, his sensors- all were rushed with a flood of unimaginable pain. Octus had no time to react. His last thoughts before crashing to the ground were:

"Programming of battle station disabled. Mission complete," he thought. And then, thinking of Kimmie, oddly enough, he collapsed into darkness...

Edward, Solomon, and the G3 troops were flying as fast as they could to the battle station's location. The troops had already been deployed to fight the crippled Battle Station, so they flew ahead of the mothership in their fighters. The fighter jets managed to destroy a few turrets and even a few external missile launching chambers. Edward saw small explosions coming from the ship. "The battle station's power seems to be weakening, according to our scanners," said a soldier who had stayed behind to maintain the main airship. "Their jets, shield generator, and control room are either disabled or have shut down entirely, " he said to Edward. "We are now five hundred feet from the ship and closing," the soldier said.

"How come they haven't fired at us?" Solomon asked Edward. "I thought you said the cloaking device was undetectable by radar, but we would be visible if we came close enough for them to see us."

"Your guess is as good as mine as to why they aren't firing," Edward replied. "Perhaps Lance and the others are putting up heavy resistance in there."

"Okay, sir, this is as close we can get to the ship." What do we do?" a soldier asked. "General Steel's troops aren't far away, and they can probably see us at this low of an altitude.

"Hmm...Lance and the others seem to be handling things inside the ship, judging from its general inactivity. I've got it! Send General Steel some of our combat walkers and anti-aircraft weaponry to add to his own!"

"What?! Edward, have you lost your mind?" Solomon asked.

"Not yet," Edward replied with serious intent. "If we can send reinforcements to him, maybe we can finally convince him that we're really on the same side. Regardless, I won't let this man kill my son before I have a chance to see him!" Edward declared.

"Edward! Bad news!" Another G3 soldier, who looked just like the other one while wearing his uniform, approached. "We've managed to monitor the systems of the ship from here, and we've determined that the Galalunans may be in danger. There's no way to tell for sure, of course, but..."

"We've got to rescue them! Quickly!" Edward cried.

"That is an option, but the Battle Station is still fully capable of destroying us. I'm not even sure how we could even break in, considering that almost all of our individual fighter jets are deployed into combat already. Edward, you did say something about Steel coming to our side, correct?" Solomon asked.

"Yes," he answered.

"Well, Steel's forces are all mobilized near the shelters, so if they're destroyed, the people of Sherman will be defenseless. I agree with your idea of giving them some supplies and reinforcements. We can help them protect the civilians. But in return, perhaps we could ask them to arrange a squad to rescue Lance and Ilana, if they do turn out to be in danger."

"I see," Edward said. "But is Steel really the one to give favors in return?"

"No, but it's our only shot," Solomon replied.

"Well, I suppose-" Edward began.

"Edward!" A third G3 soldier appeared. "Octus' appears to have been shut down. His systems that we can monitor from here are dead. And we can also infer that Ilana is unconcious, based on our recent observations," he said.

"And Lance?" Edward asked.

"Unknown," the soldier replied.

"Very well, then. Solomon, get the cargo ships ready. Recall some of the troops so that we can use them to arrange a rescue mission with General Steel's own troops. The fate of two planets might rest in our hands!" Edward cried.

"Sir, yes, sir!" The three soldiers and Solomon all replied, giving a salute. They four of them, along with some others that Solomon gathered, ran to the hangar to do as Edward had instructed.

Lance struck Baron's armor with his sword, but Baron blocked it with his arm effortlessly. He delivered a kick, and while Lance was stunned, Baron fired his Manus robot's missiles. They exploded in Lance's face, like small meteorites seeking him out. When they hit, Manus was flung backwards into a chunk of wires and pipes deep inside the engine room. The machinery he crushed sent sparks flying, and it seemed that the ship began to rumble slightly from the weight. Having no regards as to what he might destroy, Lance broke through the rubble and slashed Baron with a couterattack. Baron saw it coming and raised his own sword in defense. Lance tried to hit at him from various angles, but Baron blocked everything. Lance decided to use another tactic: He pointed his fist at Baron, as if to deliver a punch, but instead he fired his machine guns. Baron was blinded by the shots to Manus's face. While he was blinded, Lance punched Baron's armor, forcing Baron to drop his sword as he doubled over. Lance then used his own sword to slash and Baron's armor. Baron collapsed on the ground. The Mutradi were still in shock. Lance stared at his rival intently, knowing that this fight couldn't possibly be over. A silence hung in the air as Lance waited for Baron to get up. Lance began to relax a little. But as his guard fell, Baron suddenly grabbed Lance's robot's legs and knocked him down, face up. Lance quickly recovered, and the fight resumed. Baron gained the upper hand by by punching Lance's Manus robot in its chest. The punch caused it to fall down. Baron unleashed his spear and prepared to stab it Manus's chest. If he could penetrate deep enough through the machinery...

But Lance wouldn't let that happen. He rolled Manus out of the way. It was surprisingly adept at athletic manuevers such as those. He couldn't help but thank his father for making these robots so powerful. It was a blessing and a curse. Lance dodged just in time as he saw Baron stab the ground where he had just been. Baron tried to attack, but Lance quickly got his Manus robot back on its feet and delivered a kick to Baron's side. Baron, still standing, slashed his sword at Lance, but Lance grabbed it as it was coming to him and broke it in half. Baron was stunned. Lance grabbed his own sword once more, slashing and stabbing Baron. But Baron wouldn't give in so easily. He delivered a punch that went straight through Lance's sword and hit him. Lance didn't know his own machine's strength. Once again he was flung back into the depths of the machinery. But this time, Baron followed suit. Lance watched as sparks flew into the air above him and landed on his armor, causing a dent in it. At first it looked like nothing major. But then he saw Manus' normally purple color turn a grayish color. The sparks were hot enough to melt his robot if he wasn't careful, he realized! This new caused Lance to brainstorm some ideas in his mind as he unsheathed his axe. Baron unsheathed his trident as he hovered just over him. The two exchanged no words. Lance swung skyward with his axe, but Baron blocked it with his trident with little effort. When Lance tried to fly up and hack away at Baron from the side, Baron swung the butt of his trident into Lance's side, knocking him down. Lance quickly recovered, but Baron landed on the ground flipped his trident around so that its sharp, three-pronged tip pointed at Lance. Baron stabbed Lance in the chest before he could use his axe to so much as attempt to deflect the blow. The blow stung his armor and himself. With the trident still jammed in Lance's Manus robot's chest, Baron delivered yet another kick into Manus's stomach. Baron pulled his trident out of Lance's armor and said, "You never really could amount to much. Face it, your precious little traditions and your kingdom are dead."

Ignoring him, Lance looked around. Just twenty feet away was the furnace. He watched as a spark from one of the broken machines fell in. As this happened, the furnace's flame flared up for a brief moment. That was it! The fire would melt Baron's armor!

"Alternatively," Baron continued, "You can face the facts and let yourself be spared. All you have to do is apologize for destroying our battle station and join us," said Baron. "Or you can die. You choose."

Lance didn't listen to him. He delivered a kick from where he was lying, knocking away Baron's trident. Lance picked up his axe and swung it at Baron as he was stunned. Baron was knocked down, crushing more machinery as his robot slid along the engine room floor, closer to the surface.

"I may die one day, Baron, but never at your hand!" Lance cried. Gripping his axe, he kneed his opponent's Manus robot repeatedly. Baron couldn't take many hits. Lance backed up and threw his axe. But Baron dodged, and Lance's axe wedged itself in part of the wall of the ship instead. Before Lance could pull his axe out, Baron fired his machine guns at him. Lance could barely take all this pain, this shower of toxic needles and fire. That was what the guns felt like. Lance tried to break free of this deadly shower, but Baron delivered yet another kick, knocking him down once more. Baron raised Manus's foot and stomped on Lance's armor with it. "So how does it feel to have your dreams of being an elite soldier...crushed?" Baron asked mockingly as he stomped on Lance's robot's head. Baron then unsheathed his own axe and delivered a blow against Lance's back. Lance and his armor couldn't take the pain. One more hit and...

Lance recovered suddenly, just as Baron had done before, and grabbed a metal tube nearby as Baron tried to swing his axe at him. Lance used the axe like a blunt sword and like a club, blocking Baron's axe swings and responding by crushing his opponent with the pipe. Lance swung Manus' leg and kicked Baron in the side after he easily deflected his blows. Baron had now been knocked directly in front of the furnace. Lance pullws out his axe, still wedged in the wall, to knock off a piece of the pipe, sparks erupting on the severed side of the pipe. Lance noticed that there seemed to be severed wires in this one that made in look like the pipe itself was releasing sparks. He walked over to Baron, holding the pipe over his head carefully so that it wouldn't make any more dents in his armor. He was about to throw the pipe in the furnace when Baron suddenly realized Lance's plan. Acting fast, he quickly sweeped his robot's legs across the floor, causing Lance's robot to fall over. It didn't do much damage, but Baron used the brief opportunity he had while Lance was stunned to kick his robot just inches away from the furnace. Lance had a sudden risky idea, however.

As the pipe that had just been thrown by Baron landed into the furnace just behind him, Lance fired up his jets forward just as the furnace began to flare up with energy and heat. It worked just as he had expected: The furnace's heat and energy gave a boost to his jets, causing him to fly like a meteor to the other end of the engine room, back to the control deck. But meanwhile, his whole body was literally on fire. Now a mechanical meteor, Lance aimed his jets upward, towards the control deck. He crashed through the wall, going unconcious as his burning robot flailed on the ground, automatically initiaiting into a stop, drop, and roll sequence. This had been programmed into the Manus robots, should they ever catch on fire for any reason. As the flames died, his armor shattered. Lance lay on the floor in the hallway ahead, his body limp and nearly unconcious from his daring escape from the engine room. That plan had been risky, but it had saved his life. But now he was too weak to go on. Lance contemplated which was better, to be dying or to be dead. But then he remembered that too many people depended on him to be at least barely alive, rather than dead, and ultimately stood by his desicion to choose the former.

Baron walked over to Lance, now in a fetal position, full of cuts and burns. Blood and ashes stained the carpet on the floor of the Battle Station. Baron smiled darkly as Lance's conciousness faded.

"That wasn't a good idea," Baron pointed out. "If you had kept screwing up the furnace, you could've brought the whole ship down, along with your friends," he said, chuckling. Then, bending over so that Lance would hear him, he added:

"I'll bet that includes your precious Ilana, doesn't it? Well, that's just bad luck for you. Ilana's mine now. My prisoner, that is!" Baron nearly shouted in Lance's ear.

"Care to join her?" he said as Lance went unconcious.

Now all three of our heroes were doomed. Or was there still some hope left? It seemed unlikely, as it wasn't long before the Mutradi scattered throughout the battleship, reactivating everything and getting it back online. Soon everything was normal, save the shield generator, which was destroyed beyond repair. The Mutradi got the weapons back online and prepared to fire another powerful laser blast and the planet's surface, to strike fear in its inhabitants.

"All troops have been mobilized, sir," Babyface declared into his radio to Steel. Babyface was on hill, just outlooking the city. A few miles behind him, Steel was in the shelters, maintaining order. A relatively easy job for a supposedly tough-as-nails General, Babyface thought.

"It's about time, Private!" he said. "It's been twenty minutes! Most of my flanks were practically naked!" Steel's choice of words made Babyface wince.

"Not to worry! We've got everything ready; anti-aircraft guns in position, and most of our fighters from the nearby base have been scrambled. But we've picked up quite a few G3 squadrons that are around the area, trying to hit at the battle station, but all of our efforts, up until a few minutes ago, did nothing. There's been some explosions in the ship, and a decrease in firing rate from its main guns. And it's jets have turned off as well."

"Why didn't you tell me it was destroyed before?" Steel asked, misunderstanding what his suboordinate meant.

"Negative. The battle station's jets are dead, and it's slowed down, but it's still firing from its position in the air. We don't how it stills keeps afloat, but we're still hammering at it," Babyface explained. Another soldier called out to him, "Clear the area!"

"What was that?" Steel asked.

"Oh, we're just about to fire a few more rounds from our anti-aircraft tanks," Babyface replied. Grabbing his radio, he ran into the woods a short distance away. From the background noise of his radio, Steel heard a booming sound that indicated that the anti-aircraft blasts had been fired. War and battle was full of loud noises, Steel recalled.

"So, can I come out there and join you guys?" he asked.

"Well, we don't have any spare tanks, and..."Babyface watched as the blast hit the underside of the ship. He noticed that it did more damage than the previous barrage had. He was about to give Steel an update when he saw some of the G3 planes, unmistakable to their bright red hues, land near him, along with several large airships the size of tanks. They looked like fighters that he would've expected to see from the Battle Station, but he knew G3 when he saw them.

"...G3 personnel is approaching, sir!" Babyface said.

"Wha-well, knock'em out!" Steel said unhesitantly. "Just do like a taught ya," he said, then turned off his radio.

Babyface heard, but he didn't follow through. He quietly told the soldiers to stand down and hold their fire on G3, and continue attacking the Battle Station. The G3 planes landed in the midst of their camp. Solomon emerged from his larger ship almost as soon as it landed. The troops kept their weapons by their sides, ready to fire at a moment's notice.

Solomon approached Babyface. Though he wasn't the highest ranking officer present, Solomon recalled that he was treated like one. But those memories weren't relevant right now.

"Solomon."

"Stevens." Solomon remembered that he hated it when people called him "Babyface", other than Steel and a few close friends.

"What do you want?" Babyface asked, a hint of agression in his voice.

"I assure you, I come in peace," Solomon said.

"Why did you come here with your troops?" Babyface questioned.

"I've come to make a proposal," Solomon answered. "May I speak to General Steel?"

"He isn't..." Babyface began, but suddenly, he saw a man of about fifty running into the camp. And it was Steel, sure enough. It was difficult for Solomon to manage his serious demeanor while watching him huff and puff over to where he was.

"Sorry, Private, I know I didn't say anything, but I was planning on coming out here so I could get a piece of the action. The shelters are secure," he added, not seeing Solomon though he was right next to him. When he was done speaking, he finally turned his head and saw him.

"Solomon! What are you doing here?!" Steel shouted angrily, spittle flying in Solomon's face.

"I want to propose a rescue operation," he answered, wiping his face.

"What? For who?" Steel shouted. Solomon remembered all too well how Steel loved to shout.

"Lance, Ilana, and Octus, their robot guardian. If you don't know already, they're the ones that can form Titan when they are together. But not when their captured, obviously. We believe that they may have been taken captive by the aliens that are piloting the Battle Station."

"Aliens fighting aliens?" Steel said, puzzled. "Well, forget it, I ain't helping some G3 cyberpunks! How do I know you guys aren't gonna double-cross us? You might even be in cahoots with each other!"

"Look up in the sky if you don't believe we're allies," Solomon replied. Steel did. He saw the massive Battle Station casting its shadow over a third of the city of Sherman, and small specks buzzing around. Those were the fighters. Solomon handed him a pair of high powered military binoculars from his coatpocket. Steel looked through them and saw the planes, some a dark green, others a bright red. The planes were flying all over the place, congregated especially near the turrets of the massive ship, destroying them as Steel observed. He saw that the Battle Station had cannons with missiles the size of one of his tanks, and spikes on the bow of the ship, not just there for decoration. He also saw a few turrets firing at his men. One of the G3 planes blocked the incoming fire from one of his own. The Army plane was burning, barely able to and the G3 one was fine. The G3 plane blocked the incoming fire by strafing from the side until it got in the way. The G3 plane fired its missles at the turret, and it was destroyed. The Army plane retreated from the battlefield in the air, its pilot in no condition to fight. The G3 plane, meanwhile, was still flying around. But Steel nearly gasped as he saw it explode from one of the fire from the other turrets.

"You were saying?" Solomon asked.

"I...very well, then," Steel replied.

"Good. If you assign some of your men to this mission, we'll accompany them with some of ours. They can all be accomodated in the aircraft I came in."

"But how do we get inside?" Babyface asked.

"Our ships have a weapon that can briefly stun some of the guns they have in the nearby vicinity of our where we will land. We will be approaching from above, and break in through the roof. By that point, the Mutradi and any Galalunans who defected with them should be surrounding the area, so get your weapons loaded and ready before we enter the ship. Your men need to do all they can to take out the turrets. When we find the hostages, they should be able to help us escape the ship. Have one of your Black Falcon helicopters ready. Did you catch all of the that?"

"I heard every word," Steel said, his face solemn and serious. For the first time in decades, he was officially in a war mode. "But, ah...what's a Mutradi, and...Gala-what?"

"Just know that anyone on the ship other than those three is an enemy. As I was saying, we will take Lance, Ilana, and Octus to G3's mothership nearby. You don't need to escort us; we know the coordinates, and the ship has a cloaking device."

"Cloaking deivce? I didn't know you guys were that advanced! Say, can you tell me why your ships and that giant airship look a bit like the one we're fighting now?"

"It's complicated," Solomon replied. "Just get the troops ready."

"I'll handle that!" Babyface said. He went off to the camp, calling on the troops. Solomon stayed with Steel.

"We're not just doing this for their sake, you know. This city-the entire world, could be at stake. And if we suceed, we can bring a family together," Solomon said, thinking of his own lost family as he said that.

"What are ya talkin about?" Steel asked.

Solomon paused before saying his next words: "Lance is the son of G3's leader."

"Your son's an alien? But that means-"

"No. Lance isn't my son. Edward, the real leader of G3, is his father."

"Huh?"

"It's a long story, but all you need to know is that if Lance is saved, he will reunite with his father."

"Well, then, looks like we have plenty of good reason to join forces!" Steel said, shaking hands with Solomon. When they let go, Steel fumbled for his next words. "And uh..." he began.

"I'm...I'm sorry."

"For trying to kill them? I think you can amend that by saving their lives," Solomon replied.

"Well, that, and, uh...everything else." Steel looked Solomon straight in the eye. "I...I mean everything." he gave Solomon a salute. Solomon gave one in response.

"I'm just unforgivable," Steel said woefully.

"No; I forgive you," Solomon said.

"Thanks," he replied.

Babyface, meanwhile, had been waiting on the sidelines, understanding what was going on. When the two men were done talking, he approached them with a several troops, armed.

"We're ready. You guys coming, or is there a G3 superior we can report to?" He asked.

"We've decided that we'll both be coming," Solomon said.

"Well, then...LET'S MOVE OUT!" Babyface cried with the voice of true soldier.

Solomon and Steel, former enemies, headed into G3's large, troop-carrying ship. G3 soldiers came out before they could enter, bringing in aid and some of their weapons. Steel and the other troops were amazed at the Walkers and tanks that had emerged from what seemed like a ship too small to house them all.

"Whoa! What is this stuff?" Babyface asked.

"Our stuff," Solomon replied jokingly. He and Babyface shared a laugh. When the troops were in the ship and the weapons and aid were out, Steel went inside to check out the interior of the ship they would be riding in.

"So, how's old Steel?" Solomon asked.

"He hasn't changed much," Babyface replied.

"Has he promoted you yet?"

"He says he's getting around to it, but so far, no."

"I think his memory is slipping," Solomon said.

"Not by much," Babyface replied. "Eh, What're you gonna do?"

"You're gonna stop you're girly gossiping about me, that's what!" Steel said, surprising both of them. The three of them shared a laugh for a brief moment. Solomon went over to the control deck to manage his own troops, while Steel and Babyface went inside the troop carrying room in the ship and waited.

"We should be approaching the Battle Station in about 2 minutes," the G3 soldier navigated the ship answered Solomon's question before he could ask it. "The other fighters are scrambling to distract the remaining turrets."

"Good. Send a message to our guys that they should take out every last turret on this silver floating death trap," Solomon said, a hint of vitriol in his voice. He still maintained his emotionless demeanor, though. "We should fire our Ion Gun from this distance," Solomon commanded the pilot.

"Understood," he said, pressing a button. The ship then fired a whitish-blue beam from its single main gun, just below the cockpit. The blast hit the ship, seemingly doing no damage, but the turrets on the roof of the ship were short-circuited, electricity crackling around the area.

"Deck guns disabled," the G3 troop said to Solomon.

Everything got serious when their ship approached the Battle Station. Taking in its sheer size was almost an impossibility.

"We need fire support! Give us covering fire!" Steel said into his radio, adressing his own troops. From outside the windows in the troop-carrying room, he could see the fighters swarming the turrets like bees. Just one hit would send a fighter from either faction bursting into flames, and a direct hit at close-range would completely destory it. Babyface observed the war outside with his General, then turned to the troops. Most sat on benches, sitting or twiddling their thumbs. A few were sitting on the floor, since the benches were completely crowded. But none of this was what intrigued Babyface: it was that the G3 and US Army troops weren't segregated or sitting on opposite sides of the room. They were mingling with each other, in fact. A G3 soldier was showing an Army soldier how his weapon worked, and an Army soldier lended a G3 soldier his cell phone (Steel normally confiscating such things) to call home, though the soldier calling couldn't reveal his location or what was going on now, for obvious reasons, Babyface saw a few tears streak down the G3 troop's face when he heard the voice of what might have been his young daughter. And an Army soldier who ineplicably withdrew an MP3 player from his somewhere in his pocket let his neighbor, a G3 soldier, listen to whatever songs he wished. A few times, they would even listen to the song together, with one earbud in one troop's ear, the other in another. Babyface realized that every man here was a brother to everyone else. They were brothers in arms-no wait, Babyface thought when he saw a few female soldiers scattered here and there-they were a family in arms.

Just then, Solomon burst into the room. "Let's move! We've arrived!" he said. The soldiers rushed out, arming themselves either with their own weapons or those of their former enemies. They all gathered in a circular room with a square panel in the middle, presumably to be used to exit the ship from above, as they intended to do.

"I'm afraid we have no way of getting down-" Solomon began, flipping a switch on the wall in the room. The panel opened, and the soldiers made sure to get out of the way so that they wouldn't fall through it just yet. Below them, the ground was a sleek silver, with several steps descending to the edge of the ship. "-besides jumping," Solomon said when the soldiers could all see what lay below. Solomon, without warning, jumped down and landed first, beckoning for the others to follow.

"Alright, no pushin' and shovin! You'll all get to get down there!" Steel said as his own troops jumped down in groups of three. The G3 troops, used to this sort of thing, grabbed a few heavy weapons such as bazookas just before they jumped down. Soon, Babyface and Steel were the only ones left on board, aside from a lone pilot who was still in the control room. Rifle in hand, and grenades hanging from his uniform, ready to be thrown at a moment's notice, Private Babyface was ready to jump down. He turned to his General.

"Are you coming, sir?" he asked.

"Yeah. I've just never jumped like this, you know, not from this height, I mean, I mean jumping from an aircraft without a parachute and landing on a giant Battle Station floating 300 feet above the ground," he said nervously.

"It won't be that bad. You're not gonna slide off the edge," Babyface reassured.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming," Steel said, anxiety in his voice. Babyface waited until he had jumped down, and then he took his leap. It wasn't frightening at all to him, but the shock of the impact made his feet sore. After landing, he took a look around him. Not twenty feet above him, the G3 troop carrier was flying away from them to get out of the battle zone. The ground he was standing on was silver and smooth, as if it had been made to walk on. A short distance away, the steps descending to the edge of the ship gave the overall landscape a rigid appearance. Babyface felt as if he was on a giant metal cloud.

"This way!" Solomon called to the others. Moving across the ship, Solomon seemed to be leading the squad to the very center of the ship. Finally, he stopped almost randomly. Solomon reached into his coatpocket (what all does he have in there, Babyface thought,), but then groaned in frustration.

"What is it?" Steel said, trying to hide the fact that his knees were shaking a little from being up so high.

"My C4. I left it back on the ship!" Solomon yelled angrily. "Now how are we going to break through?"

"It's fine. I've got a spare," Steel said, whipping out a C4 from his own uniform. Babyface was beginning to feel suspicious of these two, always being able to draw something out from the folds of their clothes. Steel placed the C4 on the ground where Solomon stood, and they got back a safe distance away. Pressing the button on his C4 remote, Solomon detonated it. The bomb worked, and the troops poured into the Battle Station by jumping through the hole it made once more. They had landed in a hallway, full of wide windows with which the view the battle still going on outside, and the entire hallway was carpeted, for some odd reason. A few doors lined the hallway, but otherwise the place was eerily desolate. When everyone was safely inside the ship, Solomon gave a warning:

"The Mutradi are the large gray-brown alien monsters. They should be swarming this hallway soon. And if you see anyone-any human, that is-wearing a red uniform that looks like something from the 18th century, don't hesitate to shoot. Everyone on this ship except the hostages is hostile."

As soon as he had finished speaking, several Mutradi poured in the room, each carrying a large ray gun.

"Attack!" Solomon and Steel yelled simultaneously. The troops wasted no time opening fire. Bullets sprayed at the Mutradi foot soldiers, who responded with a blast of deadly lasers. The G3 troops led the assault against the Mutradi, having more experience with things like this. The Army soldiers gathered their courage and fired round after round of bullets, with an occasional grenade thrown in for good measure. Snipers of both factions stayed behind to focus on their targets. Steel, naturally, had the largest and most powerful pair of machine guns out of his own troops. Screaming a war cry, he simply ran in the group of aliens, having no regard for his own safety. One of the Mutradi tried to get out in front of him to tackle him, but Steel just dodged the brute strength of the alien, then countered with his own brute strength, in the form of a bare-knuckled fist. Steel fired the two machine guns he had like they were extensions of his arms, coordinating the two of them take out Mutradi come at him from any angle. Solomon, preferring finesse over raw power, struck a few kicks in several Mutradi's stomachs, stunning the aliens just long enough for to take the weapon from one of them. Solomon leapt to the walls as he fired a few shots in the fray, bouncing off of it like a parkour champion. Sliding underneath one Mutradi, he shot him in the back upon standing up. When two Mutradi surrounded him at once, he kicked one in the face with the side of his foot, then leapt past the two while punching the other one. He was about to fire when he saw the Mutradi fall dead to Steel's gunfire. Steel gave a brief nod, and Solomon dashed through the corridor with the troops, gaining ground rapidly.

"My portable bio-scanner is picking up their vitals several hallways off! After a few rooms, we should be able to get to them!" he yelled, to anyone who could hear over the roar of the battle.

"Got it!" Babyface responded, tearing off a grenade from his uniform and throwing it into the fray. Slightly terrified of the aliens, Babyface overcame his fears by getting into the fray as his general did, but making sure to stay out of the way of fire. Using the corners of the walls as cover, he shot at several Mutradi, switching from a machine-gun to a sniper rifle. His trained eye shot down several of the Mutradi. He eyes widened when he suddenly saw other humans besides his the people in his squadron appear. The were wearing the aforementioned 18th century-style uniforms Solomon had been talking about. Babyface wasted no time in apprehending a few of them. Then, one of them suddenly saw him and rounded the corner he had been using as cover, brandishing a sword, of all things. Babyface had been on the ground the whole time, so he rolled out of the way when the Galalunan tried to stab him, dropping his sniper rifle. His machine gun, which had been slung over his shoulders, crushed him as he dodged the Galalunan's sword stab. Grabbing his machine gun as he quickly stood up right, he leapt out of the way as his opponent tired to swing his sword a second time, standing up to fire his machine gun. He drew and fired his machine gun with incredible reflexes, lodging two bullets in the Galalunan's shoulder and chest, killing him almost instantaneously. Another Galalunan, equipped with a blaster this time, also tried to fire at him. He did so just once, striking his leg. Babyface bashed him with his gun, killing him, as he limped forward with the others squad members, who were finishing off the last of the troops in this wave. Babyface limped along, taking out a few Mutradi that had managed to get past the snipers from behind them.

"Stevens, cover our rear!" Steel ordered. "You can't catch up with the front lines in your condition!" he said as he blasted a Mutradi that was trailing the squad. "The snipers should help you take out most of em!"

"Sir, yes, sir!" Babyface yelled, almost unaware that Steel had actually called him by his name. Stopping a medic, he got him to dress the wound on his leg, enabling him to move a bit faster. He joined the other snipers at the back of the squad, most of them having already dealt with a wave of enemies that had tried to ambush them from behind. As he saw the last enemy being shot down, a sniper addressed Babyface.

"Private, help us set up some motion-sensor bombs!" he ordered, handing him a few flat objects with small red lights on top of them.

"Understood!" he said, placing a few of the bombs on the walls near the entrances to the room that they had landed in. He also placed some on the floors, just under the carpet. Most of the Galalunans and Mutradi probably wouldn't check twice for bumps underneath the fancy carpet of this ship. He broke down a door that led into a nearby room, grabbing the Mutradi weapons that were scattered in the tiny, square room that was evidently a sleeping quarters. After joining up with the snipers, his tasks complete, they all headed over to the next room, where a fresh wave of Mutradi awaited them.

For the first time in his life, Private Steve "Babyface" Stevens was in a war mode. And for the second time, Solomon and Steel were working together.

Lance and Ilana had been chained up against two pillars while they had been unconcious. Their watches which held their armor lay on a table at the opposite end of the room. Lance was the first to wake up. The first thing he heard were explosions outside. But he could care less about what was going on out there. He saw his and Ilana's watches lying on the table. He tried to pull free, but it was useless. His arms and legs had been securely fastened. He looked to his right and saw Octus's charred "head". Lance realized with horror that Octus was dead, for the third time. But he didn't panic. If they could just escape, G3 would revive him...

And then Baron entered the room, along with several Mutradi foot soldiers. Then Galalunan troops followed them. Lance scowled at them. He reminded himself that apart from himself and Ilana, every Galalunan here was a traitor. "Are you really going to kill me because some-ape-faced General told you to?!" he shouted.

"Yep," said Baron casually. "As for Ilana, well, she's gonna get to go home. Her daddy needs to see her one last time, before the royal family's execution." Lance glared directly at Baron. He noticed that there was still an air of obnoxious pomp in his voice.

Just then, Ilana woke up and realized what was going on. She gasped upon seeing the Galalunan troops with the Mutradi foot soldiers. "Which one of you is in charge of this whole thing?" Ilana asked angrily at the traitors. "When my father finds out about this-"

"That would be me, princess. The name's Baron," he interrupted. He suddenly grabbed Ilana's hand gently and kissed it, to her disgust. "I've always wanted to meet you face to face," he said, attempting to place a seductive quality in his voice. Ilana jerked her hand away in disgust.

"Aren't you that guy that Lance fought at the academy?" she asked, ignoring his advances.

"The one and only, Princess," he replied, standing up again. "And to answer your question as to who is in charge, I am the commander of this Battle Station," he replied, with an air of pomp and cruelty in his voice. Lance recalled that Baron had never been this cocky when they were younger. Suddenly, Lance realized why he was acting so pompous. This was his first time to be in charge of so many troops! He was just trying to give off a false sense of regality and authority. Lance would have been amused, if he and Ilana weren't being held hostage by him. Despite his obnoxious mannerisms, Baron was a real threat.

"I order you to realease us!" Ilana said defiantly. She was met with roars of laughter from the enemy troops, Galalunan and Mutradi alike. Lance sighed. Typical Ilana. If she was drowning, she would probably try to order the water to dry up. He decided to use _his _method of persuasion:

"Baron, you'll be sorry if try to hurt Ilana! I'm sworn to protect her. You can hurt me all you want, Baron, if it will make you happy, but leave Ilana alone! Octus, too. He's dead, anyway; there's nothing you can get from him," Lance said.

"You want to win her over, don't you?" Baron asked him, jerking his thumb over to Ilana. Lance nearly blushed. That hadn't been what he had been thinking, he just didn't want Ilana to get hurt! Why did he ask such a stupid question? "Since you want her to be amazed by your selflessness, how about she gets to watch you die before we leave for Galaluna? The General doesn't care for the likes of you, amyway," said Baron, a cruel smile on his face.

"Lance, no! Don't let him do this!" Ilana protested.

"Baron, do whatever you want to me," Lance continued. "You have the upper hand. Let's make a deal: Kill me, and the princess goes free. Or take both of us to Modula, and let him execute both of us."

"Lance, what are you doing?" Ilana asked nervously. Lance winked at her, then jerked his head toward Baron. She still didn't quite understand.

Baron froze. Lance had a feeling that this work, either with Ilana going free, or that whoever was causing the explosions outside, presumably G3, would be able to free them if Baron ended up stalling to think of an answer. Lance also knew that Baron would never let anyone, not even General Modula, get the chance to kill him. He knew that the main reason Baron had even come here, on Earth, was so that he could get the chance to kill him and settle their old rivalry.

"Well?" Lance asked, watching as Baron's features changed to indicate his irritation and stess of this offer. It had been a few minutes now. Hopefully that was enough time for G3 or whoever was outside to come in and rescue them...

"Would you really let Modula kill me? You'd never be able to settle the score."

Baron delivered a sharp punch to Lance's stomach while everyone else looked on, except Ilana, who had turned away and closed her eyes. Baron delivered more punches, each blow filled with anger and frustration. He had just fallen for Lance's trick! He could have killed Lance minutes ago, if he hadn't tried to taunt him so much! How could he make his death long and slow, yet quick enough so that whatever he had placed his hopes on wouldn't arrive in time?

Ilana tried to ignore her guardian, who was screaming in pain. But the room was small enough for his cries to echo. Tears ran down Ilana's face. Was there no hope after all?

Lance hurt all over as Baron's punches grew deadlier. Lance groaned from the pain, reminding himself that it would all end soon, one way or the other. Baron grabbed his face and slapped him. "Shut up, Lance! If I'm gonna beat you to death, you can at least die like a man!" he said. He delivered more punches in Lance's face. His nose began to bleed, and a tooth was knocked out. But Baron wasn't satisfied. The cruel, white haired punk motioned for the guards to grab Lance and free him from his chains. Lance came crashing to the floor. He tried to stand up, hoping to be able to at least fight back now that he was free. But one of the Mutradi that had a weapon in his hand shot Lance with his blaster before he could so much as move, sending more pain into Lance's body. But he couldn't show his fear to Ilana. Baron chuckled darkly, saying nothing. Suddenly he raised his boot over Lance's head.

"What's the matter, Lance?" said Baron, in the most cruel tone possible. "Can't fight back? You're just like your dad; helpless!" he cried.

Lance ignored his rival's remarks and turned to Ilana. She faced him, tears in her eyes. "Ilana...I'm sorry...I have failed to protect you..."

Ilana shook her tear-soaked face. It won't end this way, she thought. There had to be hope...there was always something. She looked into Lance's eyes. She could see a glimmer of hope in them. He hadn't quite given up yet. She suddenly realized why he had let Baron attempt to kill him slowly. She faintly heard footsteps resounding through the hallways outside. The Mutradi seemed to look at the door anxiously. It seemed that Baron was a little angry that he hadn't gotten to settle his revenge exactly the way he planned.

"Well, Lance, looks like its time to die," Baron said almost nervously his foot still hovering over Lance's head.

"Don't count on it," Lance said under his breath.


	3. Chapter 3

Episode 30: Battleship Mutrad, part 3

DISCLAIMER: ALL CHARACTERS MENTIONED IN THESE STORIES ARE COPYRIGHTS OF CARTOON NETWORK. I HAVE NO AFFILIATION TO SYM-BIONIC TITAN OR ITS CREATOR, GENNDY TARTAKOVSKY. I AM SIMPLY TRYING TO EXPAND ON HIS EXCELLENT WORK, NOW THAT THE SHOW, WHICH HAD SO MUCH POTENTIAL, HAS BEEN CANCELLED.

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Then, with a sick grin on his face, Baron added, "This is gonna be the best moment of my-"

Suddenly, a foot kicked down the door. Lance watched as cameoflagued troops poured in and opened fire. A few soldiers on both sides fell, and Baron and his troops fled the scene by leaving through another door which led to a new hallway where they could regroup. All this happened in a matter of seconds.

"I'll secure the hostages!" A tall soldier with freckles and red hair yelled. He released the chains binding Ilana and helped Lance to his feet. "Somebody check out those wounds on the boy! Stat! Get them outta here and go!" he yelled, giving Lance and Ilana's watches back to them. Next, he grabbed Octus' head and placed it his backpack he had with him. "We gotta get outa here!" exclaimed the red headed soldier.

"Wait, who are you?" Ilana asked.

"No time for that! We need to do he says!" Lance answered. Ilana nodded and followed the redhead out of the room and into the hallway. She could've sworn that he was familiar somehow. As the three of them moved down the hallway, the next thing they saw surprised her.

"Steel?" she said in disbelief.

"And...Solomon?" Lance asked, equally confused. Solomon and his red uniformed G3 troops were shooting a number of nearby Mutradi, intermingled with Steel's troops doing the same.

"Stand down and hold off forces in the area!" Steel was shouting. "Shoot anything that isn't human or anyone wearing an old fashioned uniform! They are hostile!" he yelled. The teens and Babyface watched as Steel punched an armed Mutradi in the stomach and stole his semi-automatic weapon. Steel used the machine-gun like blaster to fire on various targets across the room. Each fell in just a few hits. Solomon, meanwhile, was keeping as close to Steel as possible, using his athleticism to dodge the fire of the Galalunans he was fighting. Having been trained to copy their fighting style, he rolled out of the way of the sword that one of them had drawn, then almost instantenously jumped to his feet and delivered a light punch to the forearm of the soldier, causing him to briefly drop his sword. Solomon used this opportunity to grab the sword. Ilana turned away as he used it to stab the soldier in the chest. Lance was impressed. Then he realized he was in a war zone, and had to take the appropriate measures.

"We've got to help them!" Lance said to Ilana. Babyface had already gone off to join the fight.

"Ok, ok, but I don't want to kill any of my own people!" Ilana cried nervously.

"So? I'll take care of that; you just go get some Mutradi!" Lance answered. He then turned on his armor and flew into the fight. Ilana joined him, breaking off to find a group of Mutradi that wouldn't be too difficult to defeat.

They fought off Mutradi, coming from both ends of the hallway, streaming through like water in a river. Interestinly, there was no sign of Baron. But Lance and Ilana fought on regardless. Lance hovered just above the fray, swinging his sword low. The Mutradi and several Galalunans were cut to pieces as he swung his sword like Death's scythe. Landing on the ground near a doorway where all the troops seemed to be coming from, he threw one of his grenades through the doorway, sending it into the next hallway. A massive explosion occured in the next room. Lance then turned around and fired his machine guns at several Mutradi that had tried to leap up on him. Ilana, meanwhile, fired both her blue and white lasers into the crowd, killing some Mutradi instantly. Unlike Lance, she stayed on the ground, firing her beams at the largest groups of Mutradi that tried to reach her. She put up her force field as she heard the blasts from more enemies behind her. She turned around and saw that they were coming from other Galalunans. Ilana rose up in the air, not wishing to fight them. But then one of the soldiers suddenly threw his sword straight at her. It went straight through the force field as if it was thin air and hit Corus' heart. Shocked that they would dare try to kill their princess, she tried to fire her white laser as she fell to the floor. But her armor failed to respond. It had practically become disabled by the blow. As she tried to pull the sword out of her armor, the Galalunan troops suddenly swarmed her. She thought she was about to be doomed (yet again), but then she saw that same redheaded soldier from before pick up a machine gun and fire at the other troops. It wasn't long before he had killed them all before her eyes. Ilana was grateful, but also somewhat frightened at seeing the dead humans. Babyface turned and helped her to her feet.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but...I don't think I can bring myself to killing my own species."

"That's understandable. But that's just one of things you may have to do in a war," Babyface answered.

"I guess you're right," Ilana replied, glancing around to make sure that there were no enemies in this area. Noticing that no one else was around, she looked up at the redheaded soldier and turned off her armor. "Haven't I seen you before?" she asked.

"Oh," Babyface grew a little nervous, but he figured now it would be okay to tell the truth. "I was sent by Steel to spy on you and your guardian."

"Now I remember!" she said.

"I'm sorry about the whole thing. I was just following orders from Steel."

"Well, it's all behind us now," she said.

"You're very forgiving about this sort of thing, aren't you?" he asked.

"I can't help it," Ilana said, smiling.

"And I learned my lesson after some awful, deep-voiced alien thing of yours scared me away," Babyface replied, embarrassed.

"Oh, that was just Octus!" Ilana said, stifling a giggle.

"Your robot?" he said, reaching for his backpack and taking Octus' head out of it. He stared at the mechanical face for a while before putting it back in the backpack. "Is he...dead?" he asked Ilana.

"No," she replied, frowning. "If we can get him to G3, they can do whatever is necessary to revive him again for us. We're not going to lose him now." Ilana stared at Octus with pity in her eyes. She recalled how she had felt when Octus had first "died". She thought that only a miracle could revive him. Ironically, it had almost been just that. She still didn't know who in G3 had saved him. She decided that when she had the chance, she needed to ask who it was in G3 that had brought him back to life.

Lance dashed over to her and Babyface, armor turned off. "Come on! We can't mourn over Octus! We've gotta keep fighting!"

"Oh, right," Ilana replied. She thanked Babyface for saving her, then turned on her armor, which had now repaired itself, and flew off. As Babyface placed Octus' head back in his backpack, Lance glared at him.

"Don't worry, you can trust me; Octus won't get hurt," he answered.

"It's not Octus I'm worried about," said Lance. "Don't get too clingy to Ilana. It's _my _duty to protect her, not yours."

"I wasn't trying to-" Babyface began.

"I don't wanna hear it. Just stay away from my princess," Lance interrupted. He then turned on his armor and flew off to continue the battle. It was his job to keep Ilana safe, not some low-class Earth soldier. She hadn't fallen for him, had she? After all, this guy was taller and more buff than he was. But then Lance realized that _his _muscles were probably much more toned than that redhead's were, even though Lance was younger and naturally lanky. Surely Ilana liked his better, especially since she had seen him working out once.

Wait a minute, why was he worried about whose muscles Ilana liked more? Lance dismissed his thoughts and refocused on the battle at hand.

Despite the endless numbers, Steel, Solomon, Lance, Ilana, Babyface, and everybody else made it to the end of the hallway and into the next room. When they got to a secure area, Steel turned on his radio. "Get the chopper ready," he said. They continued to hold off for several minutes. Then, as they were beginning to grow exhausted, black falcon helicopters hovered near the window. The bullets from their machine guns broke through most of the windows, and they shot and killed at all the remaining enemies from there. In minutes, all the Mutradi in the area were killed. But more were coming. Steel and Solomon jumped out of the Battle Station from the shattered windows and landed in the helicopter. The other troops did the same in the nearby helicopters. A G3 troop-carrying ship also arrived by the broken windows. Lance and Ilana could have flown using their armor's jets, but instead they boarded the helicopter with Babyface to see to Octus again. She and Lance had been so shakened up, they almost forgot about him. When the helicopters were safely out of range of the Battle Station, they began to head towards the G3 airship so that Octus could be repaired.

After a period of silence, Babyface spoke up. "You know, I don't think I've introduced myself to you guys. My name is Steve Stevens, but you guys can just call me by my nickname, Babyface."

"Babyface?" Ilana asked, laughing. "Well, you do look pretty young," she said. Lance scowled at her. "What?" she asked.

"Look Lance, I'm not interested in Ilana. I'm too old for her," he said. Ilana stared at Lance quizically. "You thought I liked him more than you?" she asked.

"Well, do you?" Lance asked, his features softening.

"Well, not really...oh, no, Babyface, I don't mean I don't like you at all, not like_ that_. I like you, Lance. Oh, wait, I don't mean that I "like" like you, I just think of you as a...uh...not just a brother...I...uh..." She started to blush.

"So, you _do_ like me," Lance finished.

"Well...I...yeah, I guess," she said. "I mean, after all we've been through, it would be wrong to say I haven't felt like...we haven't connect any. I mean, you're the only person here that I can really feel a...bond with. Jason is a great guy, but...something's missing from him. I don't know. Lance, you've become more than my just my guardian," she said, turning to him. "You're my best friend. My soldier."

"Well, uh...thank you," Lance replied. "I...I guess I sometimes feel the same way." Wishing to change the subject, he turned to Babyface. "Why did you and Steel and his troops come to rescue us, after everything we've done to you guys?"

"Solomon came and proposd the idea," Babyface explained. "Steel realized that you three weren't threats, and that you really just wanted to save Sherman from all those monsters."

"But what do you think?" asked Lance. "Do you think we're...threats?"

"I don't know; judging from how you saved us repeatedly, no," the soldier relied. "I was simply following orders. You obviously don't remember me, but I was one of the soldiers you fought in the Omega mall. I couldn't help but notice that you didn't try to kill any of us; you just wanted to escape. Except for when you crushed that tank, of course. But I thought it was pretty stupid that Steel ordered us to send it crashing through the wall of the mall building! To be honest, I have my doubts about Steel sometimes. Frankly, I think it would be best if he had resigned after the original Hammer was destroyed so easily. But you didn't hear that from me,okay?" he said.

"How can you forgive us after destroying your tank?" Ilana asked.

"Or...when we first came here, and I damaged more of your weapons and wounded your fellow troops? What about when we wrecked the base which housed the original Hammer? Or when we destroyed almost all of your fighter jets while trying to protect G3?" Lance asked. "How can you suddenly turn around and try to help us?"

"A very good question, Lance." The soldier looked down. "You three have caused so much destruction...but I couldn't help but notice it was all directed against us. At first I was just like Steel. Stubbornly wanting to eliminate any threats from our country, which I assumed you were. But then I stopped and thought, 'If they're truly threats to national security, why are they killing the monsters that seem to follow them?' And then when I saw Solomon was ready to help you guys, I tried looking deeper into this. I realized that you, like ourselves, had been acting in self-defense. That didn't necessarily justify everything you did, but it gave a good explanation, nonetheless. At one point I secretly talked about this with Solomon. It was just after we all had to team up and fight those 3 Mutradi monsters at once. He told me everything you did, good and bad, and I just drew my own conclusions about you guys."

"Why did he tell you this? Did he want you to pass it on to Steel? Why did he trust you, anyway?" Ilana asked.

"Solomon and I are very close. We were buddies in the military."

"What do you mean?" Lance asked.

"Before Solomon formed G3, he worked with us. Can you believe he was actually a corporal to Steel?"

"Wow. Why didn't he tell us about you?"

"He was probably worried you would misunderstand things if you knew whose side I was on. And yes, he wanted me to pass everything he had said on to Steel. He didn't want Steel to have the same assumption he had once had about you. But when I tried to tell him, he didn't listen. But somehow, Solomon convinced me to look underneath the surface. When I thought of the casualties both G3 and the military lost, I was still sad about it. But only because it all could have been averted if we had all tried to be a bit more peaceful when we first met you. Now that you just saved me back there, I'm convinced of your true intentions. There isn't a doubt in my mind anymore. I'm sorry for everything that the United States military has done to harm you. That's not supposed to be our purpose; it's supposed to be to defend this country."

"We accept your apology," Lance said solemnly. But Ilana had other thoughts. "No, Lance! We should apologize to them! We brought all the Mutradi to these innocent people, we've done more damage to Steel and his forces than he could ever do to us! Steven, I know this isn't much, but...I am sorry for everything that Lance and I have done to your fellow American soldiers. It..." Ilana began.

"...Was all just a misunderstanding," Babyface replied. "You came in peace, but we didn't. Steel and his men, including myself, more or less deserve all that has happened since you came, Ilana. Perhaps we're all a bit ignorant and fearful when meet strangers," he said solemnly. "But I want that to be a thing of the past. I forgive you. You've atoned for everything by saving the world many times over."

"And I forgive you, too," Ilana replied, hugging the soldier. Lance changed the subject once more, now that they were all in good relations with each other.

"Well, since we failed to destroy the ship, now what?" asked Lance. He didn't like all this drama. It was good that one of Steel's troops was on their side, but they didn't have time for emotional I-forgive-you speeches! Lance didn't what he would have said to Steel if Ilana hadn't been here. And Lance wasn't exactly the forgiving type.

"Steel said to take you to G3 and reactivate your robot," Babyface said. "And as for the battle station, you failed to destroy the jet engines and permanantly disable the power source, but you did manage to destroy their shield generator," the soldier went on.

"We destroyed the shield generator? Nice going, Ilana!" Lance said, smiling. He wasn't concerned about Octus right now. He knew he'd be all right once they got him repaired.

"Oh...it was nothing," she said, blushing.

"No, it was definitely something all right. If you hadn't blown up the generator, we'd be helpless againt that thing! We would have to go revive Octus, only to go back in again." said Lance. He raised his hand to give her a high-five. Babyface glanced at Lance's damaged and bruised face.

"How'd you get your face so messed up?" he asked.

"It was Baron, the guy in charge of the Battle Station with the white hair and pointy nose," replied Lance angrily. "That coward! When you guys showed up, he just ran! Come to think of it, he's probably back in the control room now, preparing to attack your fellow troops! Tell Steel to do as much damage as possible to that little jerk!"

"Why don't you tell him yourself?" Babyface suggested, handing the radio. Lance called out into it. He was a little nervous talking to the General. After all, they had never really been on good terms, to say the least. But Lance's hatred for Baron overpowered his fear of Steel.

"Hey, Steel?"

"Yeah, Lance?"

"How'd you know my name, and that it was me?"

"Long story. Listen, I've been kind of a jackass lately. Those guys at G3 told me everything. And I mean everything. At first I didn't believe'em, but then... Right now I just want to say...I'm sorry. It was all a big misunderstanding on my part. I was just blindly protecting my country from anything unfamiliar. I was told by one of the G3 guys that you did the same thing when you arrived here with that princess," Steel said. "Lance, don't get freaked out by this, but when I was your age, I was...kinda like you. Loved me a good fight. I followed orders to the letter, no matter how absurd. I guess the real reason I didn't trust you was cause I had been taught not to trust outsiders. It never really occured to me that anyone outside this country could be trusted. That was just America's mindset back then. Anyway, I kinda understand now why you reacted the way you did back at the mall when you three first landed here. Seems like such a long time ago, doesn't it? It was just out of fear and your ferocity to defend your leader. Or in this case, his daughter. Kinda like with the leader of my own country, in a crazy way. I don't agree with his policies; heck, I don't agree with him on anything. But I'd still defend him to death. It's about loyalty, Lance, not politics or opinions. If you and that princess ever argue, just remember that. I think that applies on both of our planets."

"Maybe..." Lance thought. "Hey, wait a sec, who in G3 told you so much about me?" Lance asked. "I know it couldn't have been Solomon. It's not like he's knows that much about me."

"You're right, Lance. I got from someone who knows you best, because he's yer own flesh and blood." Then Steel suddenly turned off communications.

"Wait! What did he mean by that?" Lance asked. The others shrugged as the helicopter approached the massive G3 airship.

Back on the battle station, Baron was tending to his ship, issuing orders for repairs and.

"For the record, I didn't want to retreat," said Baron. "It was the only logical solution. What's our status?" he asked a passing Galalunan.

"I'm afraid that little skirmish you had with Lance crippled our engines, sir. Our shield generator is utterly destroyed, and we don't have enough fuel to pursue the vehicles that rescued our primary targets. We do have just enough fuel to move about in this city, in case we need to do so if Titan returns and attacks us. Our weapons are also fully functional. We just have to wait for them to return as Titan, which they inevitably will. I will make all possible repairs," the suboordinate replied.

"Well, this sucks," said Baron, sighing. He slumped back down into his captain's chair almost comically, waiting impatiently for the three heroes to return to the city of Sherman.

Our heroes were once again in the G3 airship. Lance and Ilana were no longer afraid of this place. Babyface, Ilana, and Lance were talking while they waited for Solomon to repair Octus. They were explaining what Galaluna was like to Babyface.

"Your planet has green skies?" Babyface asked in amazement. "Does that mean that the water is green, too?"

"It just looks green, but yeah, I guess so," Lance said. "But it tastes just the same."

"So how long is a year on Galaluna?" Babyface asked.

"Oh, about a 8 months, according to your calender," Ilana replied. "That's how long it takes for all three moons to have gone through each phase that your moon goes through at least once. According to the Earth calender, Lance and I are both sixteen, but according to the Galalunan calender, Lance is actually seventeen."

"Oh. Well, why is it that you guys speak English, like must of us do in America?" Babyface asked.

A mechanical voice interrupted. "Earthling and Galalunan evolutionary lines must have been quite similar, because both species have similarly shaped tougues. This trait may have likely led to the formation of nearly identical languages, despite the parallel evolutionary line. As for the diversity of languages found on Earth alone, I-"

Lance and Ilana had turned and hugged Octus before he could say any more about this intriguing subject.

"Welcome back, Octus!" Lance said.

"I still fail to understand why you two become so affectionate after seeing me," Octus said, turning on his Newton hologram so that the teens would be more comfortable hugging him. Anyway, sorry I got killed again. You'll never guess who I encountered on the ship: Galalunan traitors!"

"Yeah, we saw some, too," said Ilana. "They tried to capture us. They almost killed Lance when..."

"They almost killed Lance?" Octus said, shocked.

"Almost, Octus," Lance replied. "It's a long story. But you'll be shocked by who saved us."

"Who? Kimmie?" Octus said hopefully.

Babyface spoke up. "No, that would be me," he answered.

Octus turned to face the speaker, recognizing him instantly. "I remember you. Private Steve 'Babyface' Stevens, yes?"

"That's me," he replied.

"I recognized you from when you stated your name and rank back when I had to frighten you away from the High School. That must have been a horrifying experience. But I don't understand why you were urinating as I released you."

"Ah, that was a long time ago, forget about it," Babyface replied, blushing furiously. "Steel gave me orders to rescue your friends, and we've made up. How could I hate you guys after you saved us so many times?"

"Hello there, Stevens," Solomon said, appearing from the room Octus had emerged from. "Steel as stubborn as ever?"

"You know it!" Babyface replied jokingly.

"Wait, if you two know each other, why are you in the Army when Solomon is working in G3?" Lance asked.

"Good question. You see, Solomon and I both worked as soldiers under Steel. He was actually a general before Solomon and I became Corporals! Shows you how old he is, eh? When Solomon formed G3 after he met-" Steven began to explain.

Solomon glared at his brother again.

"-Uh, this one guy with a mechanical hand...he pretty much became his own boss, just like he wanted too! You see, Solomon wasn't so keen with following orders, especially those he believed were too rigid or ignorant. He tried to keep in open mind about people. Like when he met the guy he founded G3 with. Solomon's not the kinda guy who will obey orders without question. He has to find his own reasons for doing things sometimes. Steel and I were mad at him when he left us, of course. We thought there was no such thing as aliens and that he was crazy. And if there were any aliens, I figured they would be bent on conquest. But after you three showed up and saved Sherman so many times, I realized that Solomon was right. Maybe if I could just keep an open mind, stop, and realize that you three were trying to do more good than harm. I know I already said all that, but I can't express this enough. I tried telling Steel, but he just couldn't get it. Until today, that is. You've gained his trust now. And Steel can become your friend, too, I believe, in time."

"Hold on; I don't think Steel is an ally just yet," Lance said. "He said something about being convinced that we were good when he heard that my own flesh and blood was the real leader of G3. What was he talking about?"

"Yeah. What's going on?" Ilana asked.

"Even I am confused," said Octus.

Solomon sighed. "I guess it's time you knew, Lance. I can't keep you two apart for so long."

"You mean...?" Lance was shocked.

"Come with me, Lance," Solomon said. Lance followed Solomon out of the room.

"Did you know anything about this?" Ilana asked Babyface.

"No. I'm just as clueless as you. Now that everything is secure, I guess I need to get back and-"

Suddenly, Steel burst into the room. "Private, we're packing up! I don't think that that Battle Station thingy's done anything to the city. It's you guys they want!" he said, pointing to Ilana and Octus. "Where's Lance?" he asked.

"He's...reuniting," Ilana answered.

"Ah, I see. Well then, pleasure doing business with ya!" Steel said. Babyface gave a salute to the princess and her robot, and they gave one in response. Babyface went to the hangar to leave the airship. Steel was following him, several troops in tow, when he turned around briefly.

"And uh...can we start everything over?" Steel asked.

"If necessary, I will wipe away all data of our battles prior to these recent events from my memory banks, if necessary," Octus said.

"I take that as a yes, then," Steel replied, giving a salute before joining his men in the hangar.

"I guess they're with us now?" Ilana asked Octus as the General left.

"Yes. But right now we must find Edward. I have many questions to ask him as to how I function. As well as...other things," Octus replied. Ilana had a feeling he was thinking of Kimmie.

"We can meet Edward later, Octus. I think Lance needs some time alone with his father. And when he's done, we can destroy the battle station. Our meetings with Edward will have to wait. What do you think is going on right now with them?" she asked, even though she knew Octus' guess was as good as hers.

Lance followed Solomon through the corridors of the vast airship. Past the interrogation room, past the hangar, past the control deck, the medical lab, and finally, a small door at the end of the hall. "Edward is waiting on the other side of that door," Solomon said.

Lance found it hard to talk just then. "A long time ago, I accepted my father's death as a fact, and now you're telling me something I should only hear in a good dream."

"Open the door, Lance," said Solomon. "I'll leave you two alone."

"Ok, but...I just wanna say...thank you. For everything," said Lance.

"I'm sorry that we tried to interrogate you and Ilana," he said. "It was my rash actions; I disobeyed Edward. He was furious. He explained his origins and why you were most likely here just after the incident with Steel, when I asked him how he knew so much about you three even before I captured you."

Lance thought about what he would say next. Could he forgive Solomon? "I...I'm sorry that we damaged your airship. And...I forgive you," Lance said. It was a little difficult for him to say those words, but they came out anyway. Lance could not remember a time before when he had forgiven someone. It was a first for him.

"Thank you...Corporal," said Solomon. "Now go, Lance. See your flesh and blood at last. I would give everything to see mine," Solomon said. _What did Solomon mean by that, _Lance thought.

As Lance closed the door, Solomon sighed and stared at the floor, managing a smile when he turned to face the door again.

Lance opened the door, almost afraid. What if it was all a lie? What if this was all a nightmare? Or a dream? Or was he still back on Galaluna?

But no. It was reality.

The greatest reality Lance ever had.

There was nothing in the room, save a couch and a bed with few chairs. The room itself was small and carpeted. There was a small dresser with picture on it. It was a picture of Lance when he was little, smiling with his beloved father. Lance had brought a picture just like it when he had arrived from Galaluna. And there on the bed, to the left of the picture, a man with a mechanical hand sat, his arms resting on his legs. He wore a labcoat, glasses, and had light brown hair, with was beginning to gray in some places. There were scars across his face. There was a cane leaning against the bed. Their eyes met. No words were exchanged.

Lance dashed over to the bed and hugged Edward, the leader of G3, the inventor of the Manus armor, the inventor of the Rift Gate, the inventor of Titan, and the first person to love him.

And most importantly, his father. Seeing him again after so long was a moment too great for words. His father, the man who had loved him and cared for him always, the man who had cared for him always, who showed him his inventions, who listened to him, his teacher...his first, and for a while, only friend, was standing right there. He had survived.

Tears streamed down Lance's eyes as he hugged his father. Edward hugged him tightly. Lance felt as if he was a child again, and that his father had never left, and that they had been together forever.

Lance didn't let go.

Twenty minutes passed. Father and son finally let go of each other. Lance was the first to speak:

"Father."

"My son. Look how much you've grown."

"I love you, dad."

"And I love you too, son. Do you still wake up at 2 am, waiting for me?"

"Yes. Yes I do," his son replied, tears still falling from his face.

"Did you believe I was dead, Lance?"

Lance starting crying again. He was a little embarassed for being so emotional. "I'm sorry, but...yes, I thought you were dead."

"But...did a small part of you still believe I was still alive?" Edward asked, placing his human hand on Lance's shoulder.

"Yes."

"What's been going on since I left, Lance?"

"Don't you know most of it, sinced you've probably been watching us?"

"Yes, but I want to hear it from you."

_**(Note: I'm giving a brief summary of everything Lance did. I tried putting it in chronological order. You're gonna have to find the episodes if you want to know everything! If you're new to my fanfics or SBT, just watch the episodes on Youtube. You SO have to before reading this!)**_

And so Lance took a deep breath and told his father his story. Everything that happened after he had supposedly died, and in chronological order. Lance told his father about the academy, his rivalry with Baron, the fights they had, the coup, how they ended up on this planet, how they struggled to fit in at high school, the firey monster, the discovery of Titan, how he had acted at the mall, the robot hydra, how all the girls seemed to like him for no real reason, how he and Ilana had first behaved around one another, how they learned to get along with each other, how they defeated the sentinent tornado creature, when he had faced Xeexi after becoming the Phantom Ninja, when he was lured by Mike Chan to street race illegally, how he got his driver's license, the nightmares the dark shamaan had given him, how they had briefly had Tashy as a pet, how he dressed in the mascot's uniform to fight off sludge monsters, when he tried to eat a massive hamburger, how G3 had interrogated them without Edward's knowledge, the "Scary Mary" party, Kristen, the Mucolox, the wierd painting, how he discovered his skills with a guitar, how he performed with Disenfranchised, how Ilana had set up the dance, Octus's death, how he and Ilana had to search for a way to revive him, and how they tried to fight off the Hammer with G3. After Edward explained to his son that it was he who revived Octus, Lance told about how Titan had saved everyone yet again from 3 monsters at once, how Octus and Kimmie had been dating, his first date with Kristen, how Lance also had feelings for Ilana and was confused about it, what he had said to Ilana when she had been cyber-bullied, how Octus searched relentlessly for a cure when they got sick, how he and Octus had fought off the plant-like creatures, his second date with Kristen, the 5 bounty hunters, how Thanatos took control of his mind, and everything that had happened today up until this exact moment.

Together, father and son laughed, cried, smiled, and hugged each other. Afterwards, Lance asked his father many questions:

"How long have you been running G3?"

"Shortly after I arrived here. Of course, it wasn't my intention to have them capture you. You see, Solomon injected a sedative while I was asleep that night before he headed out. I had no idea what had occured, and the other troops weren't told that I had been knocked out. I was furious with Solomon, but I couldn't bring myself to fire him. He's the only one on this planet that I really trust, and he was the first person I'd met after arriving here."

"Oh...I'm sorry we...may have killed a few troops of yours."

Edward sighed. "It is too late to change things for the innocent casualties on both sides," Edward replied. Lance thought it best to change the subject.

"How long have you been observing us?"

"Ever since you came here."

Lance asked more difficult questions: "Why did you not help us beat those Mutradi?"

"As much as I wanted to, it would reveal my identidy. I didn't want to tell Solomon anything about you and Ilana, but when I saw Titan I know it was you three. You see, Lance, I could not take any chances in revealing myself. Like you were at first, I was a little paranoid that some of the Earthlings were spies. I didn't want to show myself until I had completed a Rift Gate duplicate for all of us to return home. I regret not showing myself to you sooner, son. It was a mistake, of which I have made plenty of in my lifetime. I was worried that if I did, and Modula found out I was still alive, he would try to destroy the planet with a deadly weapon such as the one we are seeing today. And judging by the destruction he has caused today, he must have found out somehow and released this weapon, hoping I am somewhere on the ground."

"Yeah, I was gonna ask: How come the battle station hasn't detected this thing yet?"

"Cloaking device. Oldest trick in the book." Edward chuckled.

"Oh. Were you surprised to find me and Ilana on Earth?" Lance asked.

"Not entirely. I had collaborated with the King on what to do in the event of a coup. He never believed it would happen, but I had my doubts. I came up with the idea of Titan shortly after I created the armor, and Octus was the final ingredient I had plans to make. In my will, I told the King to create it in the event of my untimely death. I see that he followed my instructions to the letter. I was surprised to see Octus's human-like qualities. I had intended to give him these, but I never thought that he would be capable of falling in love...with an Earth girl. But then again, according to your account of everything that's happened to you, you have as well!"

Lance laughed. "I want to talk to you about her, Dad," he said in a more somber tone.

"I'm afraid it will have to be another time, my son. Do you have any more questions?"

"Why did you leave in the Rift Gate?" Lance asked, nervous of the answer.

"Son, it is a very long story. I'm afraid I will have to save that answer for later. I'm not trying to avoid the question, Lance. It's very complicated, and right now we don't have all the time in the world. Son, I know we have just met after years of being separated, but right now you need to form Titan with the others and destroy that battle station. You can talk to me at 2 am, just like we did all those years ago. Then, I will tell you everything."

"But Dad...what if I don't make it back?"

"You will, son. I'm sure of it. I have full confidence in all three of you."

"Can I visit you again here, dad?"

"Anytime, Lance."

"Well...it's been an hour. As much as I hate to leave, I have to, Dad," said Lance.

"Wait. Just let me say one last thing: I'm sorry."

"For what, Dad?"

"For leaving you when you were just a boy. I can tell that you have been scarred by that. When you talked about everything that had happened afterwards, I was able to assess your personality. It had changed so much. Your heart was hardened, and you became indifferent, not letting anyone in your life. You thought that they would just leave or let you down. You became tough because of the cruelty of the world. I'm sorry that you became that way in my absence. I''m also sorry that you had to go through puberty and adolescence alone, with no one to turn to. I wish I could have been there to watch you transform from a boy into a young man," Edward said.

"Well, that's all in the past now," said Lance. "Who says I...can't change a bit? You know, maybe...open up to people more?" he continued.

"I believe you can, Lance. You see, a friend I knew once said that the personality you develop in your adolescence can stay with you for the rest of your life. And you're not quite through growing, Lance."

"Yeah," Lance mused. "You know, it was tough, going through the academy. Facing Baron, arguing with the King. I never really learned how to respect authority. I never really learned how to be...nicer to people, or open up to them. You were right, Dad. I admit, I'm kind of stubborn sometimes. And a little too...antisocial and...agressive. That was probably the reason Ilana and I used to argue so much. We never saw eye to eye. And Dad, I've made plenty of mistakes."

"We both know that everyone does, Lance. And I'm sorry that you had to teach yourself how to fight. It must have been hard, but look at yourself now! I had a hunch that you could become the greatest soldier in Galaluna. I knew that if you were trained hard enough, the King could see that you would become a great soldier and an excellent young man. I just wish I had been there to see it happen. By the way, Lance, I know this sounds a little strange to you, but trust me on this: Ilana has a lot to offer you. She can teach you how to open up to people with her bright, warm, bubbly personality. Of course, this is what her father told me!"

They laughed. "But he might have been right," added Edward. "If you and Ilana can get along better, maybe your personality can change a bit, for the better."

"Thank you for the advice, Dad," Lance said. "And by the way, even though I had to grow up under such harsh conditions with no one to turn to, I learned a lot. I think all the bad things that happened to me had a little good in them. So don't apologize for leaving me. If you hadn't, my life wouldn't have been this way. It's been hard, but it has been rewarding. It might have been easier if you were there, but I think what's happened to me over my life is...gonna all work out in the end."

"Well, I'm glad you feel that way, Lance," said Edward. "And as Earth fathers say to their sons when they finish bonding with them, 'Good talk, son, good talk.'"

Lance laughed. "Well, I'm off to go fight the battle station."

"Make me proud, Lance," his father said.

"I will," said Lance. Suddenly, he stopped. "Wait. What if I don't come back?" he asked.

"You'll come back. You always come back," Edward said.

Lance smiled. "That's the same thing I told Arthur at the academy shortly after you dissappeared."

Lance left his father's room, feeling a bit more motivated. There were now two people he had a responsiblity to protect on this planet...

Lance ran down the long hallway back to where Octus and Ilana were waiting. "Sorry I took so long," said Lance.

"Slow down," said Ilana. "You haven't even told me if it was really him...was it?" she asked.

"Yes," said Lance. Ilana couldn't help but notice that Lance had a huge grin on his face. She had never seen him smile in such a way as he was now. Lance had a beautiful smile, but Ilana had never really gotten a good look at it. Lance's smile was warm and inviting, with the dimples on Lance's face showing. Lance's eyes were dark, but Ilana could see a small spark in each of them. And...his eyes were a little red, like he had been crying. But somehow, seeing him smile warmed her spirits. It occured to her that she had rarely, if ever, seen him smile like this. Ilana almost wished that she could see Lance smile forever. It was just so...friendly and radiant.

And then she snapped out of her trance. None of that was relevant! So she shoved the thought out of her mind. Ilana asked her guardian soldier:

"Can...we meet him?" Ilana asked.

"I'm afraid not. Right now, we have a battle station to destroy. And Baron happens to be on that battle station!"

"And so are thousands of Mutradi," Octus added.

"Don't worry about that. Ilana managed to destroy the shield generator. Now we can destroy the whole thing at once using Titan!"

"Sounds like a plan to me!" Ilana said.

Solomon and Edward met up in the control room of the vast ship. "Should we help?" Solomon asked.

"No," said Edward. "We''ll only just get in the way. This battle is for Titan alone."

Our heroes turned on their armors and flew back to downtown Sherman. When they arrived, they were shocked at the senseless damage that the battle station caused. Buildings were burning, and others had crumbled completely. Everyone was still safe in the shelters, and Steel was making sure to keep everyone over there safe. Kimmie, meanwhile, was watching a news broadcast with Kristen, Jason.

"The Battle Station has held its fire for 30 minutes now," a reporter said from inside one of the military helicopters. "We've just spotted our three robots return onto the scene after they seemed to dissappear around the time a group of helicopters approached the ship and opened fire. We now go live on the ground to General Steel, who's going to explain what happened." The screen cut to Steel, on the ground as the anchorman had said.

"Could you explain what's been going on in the sky to our viewers?" A female reporter asked.

"Sure thing, maam. After I scrambled my jets to try and get at the turrets on the Battle Station, I was approached by an, uh...an anonymous individual," Steel said, not wishing to reveal Solomon's identidy. "He presuaded me to send some of my men into the Battle Station to infiltrate it and rescue the robots because they had been captured by the crew of the ship. The smaller ones, I mean, not Titan. It's too big to fit in there! From inside there, the robots managed to destroy the shielding and fuel source of the aircraft, so that it's now dead in the air and defenseless. But our planes still can't penetrate its armor."

"This is quite a lot to take in," the reporter said.

"Yeah, but the gist of it is this: We had to perform a rescue operation to save Titan's friends, and now he's gonna show up soon and destroy the Battle Station for us!"

Cheers rang through the walls of the shelter. Kimmie was relieved that Titan hadn't been destroyed from earlier, but she was still concerned about Newton. She was sure he had something to do with those robots, but what? Did he make them? Did he pilot them? Kimmie needed answers, but would her boyfriend supply them?

Jason interrupted her thoughts. "Hey, look, Kimmie. It's Titan!" he cried. She looked at the screen and saw the familiar giant blue and yellow robot, standing before the Battle Station.

"And Titan has made it's return!" the reporter in the helicopter announced. "But does it have the capability to save us from this giant Battle Station?" he asked his audience. His question would soon be answered.

Inside said aircraft, Baron was getting himself ready. "We can't fail!" he cried to his men. "Fire up the laser!"

"We can't fail!" Lance said in Titan, in almost the exact same way. "Get ready!" 

The battle station commenced the fighting by charging at Titan with its jets. Titan fired its massive blue laser. The laser hit the ship, but the battle station withstood the damage. The battle station fired its own laser in response. Titan tried to use its Sym-Bionic shield to block it, but the massive red laser was two powerful. Titan's shield shattered after a few seconds, and the giant robot crashed to the ground, destroying a few buildings. Titan ran around to the portside of the ship to attack there, but the battle ship fired its turrets and 4 of its giant missiles. It turned towards Titan so that the battle station's bow was once again facing the giant robot. Before Titan could react, the battle station slammed itself into Titan's chest, jabbing Titan's shoulder with the spikes on its bow. Titan then grabbed the front of the battle station and pulled it out from its shoulder, knocking the ship away a little bit. The battle station fired its massive laser again, but Titan stood to its feet and used its jets to hover above the blast. Titan formed its Cosmic Bow in the air and fired its massive arrows onto the ship from above, and they caused more damage. The battle station shot its last 8 giant missiles from above at Titan. The missiles caused massive damage, and Titan crashed to the ground. A few more skyscrapers were crushed by Titan's weight, and a whole street was demolished. The battle station fired its massive laser again, but Titan dodged that blast, rolled underneath its opponent and shot an arrow at the battle station's underside, causing yet another explosion. The ship then dropped a massive bomb from its deck just after it recovered, which landed squarely on Titan, knocking it out from under the ship. Now out from under the ship, Titan used this opportunity to fly away. Baron hoped that Titan was fleeing, but Titan then turned around and hurled its Sonic Boomerang at the ship, gaining power as it ripped through its hull, causing a few fires on its starboard side as the Battle Station strafed out of the way with its jets just in time. The battle station suddenly skyrocketed upward, as it had done before, dodging the boomerang as it came back to Titan. Titan's boomerang dissappeared when it caught it. The battle station then took a nosedive at Titan from higher up. Titan unleashed its Cronus Chain, which it threw on the battle station so that it would wrap around its target as it charged. Titan used its jets to fly, swinging on the chain wrapped firmly on the ship, using it like a vine. Titan used its jets and its grip on the chain to swing itself above the ship. Titan then stopped to land on the ship, its boots crushing the roof of the battle station. Pulling on the chain that had been wrapped around the ship, Titan rode it like a horse and forced the battleship to stop nosediving. But before Titan could whip out the blades housed at the other end of the chain, Baron issued a desperate command:

"Do a barrel roll!"he cried.

The ship performed a barrel roll, swinging in the opposite direction so that it unwound itself from Titan's Cronus chain. Titan lost its grip and fell back to the ground, creating a massive crater in the exact spot where one had been made by the first Mutradi monster that they had ever fought. The bridge that had been built over the crater was destroyed by Titan falling on top of it. The ship wasted no time in firing its red laser at Titan once again. Titan's outer amor shattered from the intensity of the impact.

Lance and Ilana screamed in pain. Octus, being a robot who could not feel pain, assesed the damage of their robot. "Our inner armor will be penetrated if the battle station fires again."

"What can we do?" cried Ilana desperately.

"We're gonna need to open up our armor again and absorb the blast, like we did with the storm creature!" Lance said frantically.

"But I said we should never do that ever again," Octus protested.

"Just do it, Octus!" Lance ordered.

And so Octus allowed for Titan to open up the armor it had left. It waited, expecting the battle station to fire once again. And it did. The blast was intense. Ilana felt the most pain because the laser had hit Titan's heart. But somehow, the energy from the blast gave Titan enough strength to suddenly rocket upwards and fire the reflected energy in all directions, casting a brilliant light as the blast hit the Battle Station. The reporter in the helicopter covered his eyes. When the light had vanished, the reporter and the cameraman looked down into the wreckage.

"Titan doesn't seem to be here..." the reporter said to his audience. "But I don't think that the battle station will last much longer," he added. The cameraman turned his camera to face the retreating Battle Station, flying away into the woods, covered in flames.

"This may have been a draw," the reporter said. "Titan may have sacrificed everything."

Back in the shelter, Kimmie shook her head as everyone else gasped or cried or mourned for the death of their Titan.

"Titan's not dead, I'm sure of it," she said.

"How would you know?" Kristen asked, her eyes full of tears.

"It's just a feeling," she told everyone who was listening.

Inside the battle station itself, the alarms had turned on. It hadn't been destroyed completely, but all the main engines had caught on fire, and the ship could barely stay afloat. All weapons were completely dead this time. Everyone panicked, as the ship had not come with escape pods. Modula had told them it was better to die than surrender. But everyone on board was not ready for an untimely death.

Baron dashed through the fast hallways of the ship and shot at any Mutradi trying to reach the escape pod before him. He came across a Galalunan soldier.

"Baron! All systems failing! According to my calculations, this ship will lose its flight capabilities in 5 minutes! Would should we do?"

"We Galalunans will have to evacuate by turning on our armor and make it back to space," Baron said. "The next time the Rift Gate opens, we'll leave through it to return home."

"We don't have any armor with us! Modula only allowed you to bring your own! And what about the Mutradi, sir?"

"It looks like I'm the only one escaping, then! Bye!" Baron said cruelly to his fellow soldier. He turned on his armor and blew a whole in the ceiling. Giving a salute, he flew off into the sky. The Galalunan and several others with him watched as Baron abandoned them. Everyone was too stunned to speak. One of the Galalunan troops screamed out "Traitor!" But then, a Mutradi spoke up:

"No. Baron is not a traitor. He is _bugwaeron_."

"What?" the Galalunan asked.

"It is a word in our language," the Mutradi explained. "It means, 'Forsaker'."

And that was the last word spoken on the burning Battle Station as it leveled a cluster of trees in the Sherman forest.

Meanwhile, back on the ground where the three Galalunans lay, Lance was once again the first to wake up. He rose to his feet and saw Ilana. "Hey," he whispered as she woke up. "How are you feeling, princess?"

Ilana opened her eyes and saw her bodyguard smiling. "Same as usual. You?"

"I'm good," Lance said casually, though he shed a few tears. It was just moments like these that tugged at their heartstrings. Just like when the Storm creature had almost destroyed Titan. After going through harrowing battles like this, they felt closer together. They shared a bond with Octus, too, but Octus was a machine and couldn't experience things the way they could. It was in moments like this where they forgot about everything, except each other. It was strange, really. As if Titan, if had any real conciousness, wanted them to be closer together...

The teens dismissed their fluctuating, hormone-induced thoughts and went to check on Octus. He was lying under a pile of rubble, fully intact, as if he had not been harmed at all.

"Mission sucessful," he said simply. They heard a buzzing sound. It was the helicopter, circling the area, vaguely hoping for some signs of life.

"Let's show them we're still here," Ilana said. They formed Titan, and it was caught on camera.

"Wha-how in the-who-?" The reporter fumbled for words. The only words he could articulate were:

"Titan lives!" This he screamed into the camera. The people in the shelters cheered.

"How did you know it was alive?" Kristen asked Kimmie.

"I don't know, she said as everyone poured out of the shelter. "Just a gut feeling, I guess."

And back on Galaluna, a Mutradi servant came from the satellite room. "General, I'm afraid the battle station has been...destroyed, and Titan lives," he said, cowering in fear.

"WHAT?!" screamed Modula. "No! All of our work...for nothing!" he shouted. Modula, in anger, thought of what he could do to vent his rage. He went to his troops, Galalunan and Mutradi, and announced: "We will strike at the resistance tomorrow." He made no mention of his recent failure. The crowd of soldiers left after he dismissed them, with doubt and fear in their minds. They assumed that the battle station had been destroyed, that was obvious, but what they really worried for was Modula's sanity. Was he slipping off the deep end?

"Look on the news," Ilana suggested as they arrived home and turned on the TV.

There was a male reporter standing just in front of a wrecked area of the city.

"Roughly half the city was annilhilated in this historic battle. I believe it would have been more if Titan hadn't saved us. And now, our high-maintenance construction crews are vigilantly working once again to repair our city. It should take just a few weeks. Sherman has endured so much. I now believe that as long as there will be monsters, Titan will be there to kill them before they kill us. Thank you, Titan, whoever you are!" he said, as repairmen began swarming the area. Then, the TV cut to commercials, and Lance turned it off.

"How do these people not despise us for bringing about all this destruction?" Ilana asked.

"They are forgiving, Ilana. They forgive us for anything we might do by accident, because, like Steel, they understand our purpose here: to protect them. Sacrifices may have to be made, but they know that without us, they would be completely destroyed by the Mutradi, even if we weren't there," Lance said.

"Wow, Lance. That was...insightful," she said. "We've been doing a lot of forgiving today, haven't we?"

"I guess so," he replied. "But I'm especially glad that I got to see my dad again. After all these years..."

Octus spoke up. "I have just picked up a message from Edward. It is adressed to all of us, but particularly Lance."

"Well, don't just stand there, play it!" Lance asked impatiently. Octus did as instructed.

They heard Edward's voice. "Lance...my son. I am so glad that we finally saw each other again after so many years."

Lance smiled, remembering fondly how he had felt when he came into his father's room.

"I'm afraid that Solomon and I must stay in the G3 airship. I can't come down to the surface of Sherman with you. I wish I could, but I can't risk Modula finding me. Though the princess is his primary target, I am his secondary target. You see, I am working on a duplicate of the Rift Gate which should be able to take us home, but it will take months. Modula does not this, I am sure, but he knows I'm certainly capable of doing so. Right now, Ilana is still his primary target, as he does not know whether or not I was killed by the battle station. I was its primary target. But I have concluded that somehow he has learned that I have formed G3. Should he know of my plans for a duplicate Rift Gate, he will certainly try to kill me again. If I should die, you will be unable to get home. In the meantime, you will have to continue defending the city of Sherman against more Mutradi. G3 can still help you at times, but try to call on us with your armor as little as possible. Everyone here is at work on the Rift Gate. And Lance, if you ever need to talk to me, about anything, you can. I won't turn you away, my son. Make sure to and protect Ilana as you have been doing already. Ilana, you are irreplaceable. Let no one tell you otherwise. Humans can survive if their bodies, or even their minds, are damaged, but no one can live without a heart. And give hope and joy to anyone who needs it. Never forget the humble life you lived on Earth when you return to reclaim your throne. And Octus, you will still have to provide for the children. You are the smartest of the three, so help them when you can. If I can't provide support, you will have to. But only if they ask. Do not intervene on their behalf. It may be something you cannot comprehend or solve, as intelligent as you are. Should I die, you will be Lance's paternal figure. And all of you, do not doubt Titan. It has more abilities which you do not yet know about. Not even I know everything it is capable of. I wish you luck in the rest of your lives here on Earth. Goodbye for now, Lance, my son." And the message ended.

"Goodbye Dad," Lance said. "I can't wait to see you again." He still wanted to say it, even though Edward couldn't hear him.

"Why don't we reply to Edward?" Ilana suggested. "Let's thank him. For everything, " she said.

"Good idea," Lance said. "Octus?"

"I'll do that tonight," he replied. "But first I have to make dinner!" he said. And with that, the robot headed into the kitchen, leaving Lance and Ilana in the living room.

"Lance?" Ilana asked.

"Yeah?"

"I want to thank you, too," she said. Without warning, she suddenly went over and hugged him. Lance hugged back.

"Dinner's ready!" Octus called.

"Wow! That was quick!" Lance said, breaking free of Ilana's embrace. As Lance went into the kitchen to eat, Ilana shook her head. Lance was just...she couldn't think of anything to describe him. Except maybe strong, and tough, and a little arrogant, and brave, and protective, and...

She dismissed her wandering thoughts and followed Lance into the kitchen.

Later that night, Ilana woke up to a noise. She went downstairs, slightly nervous. There in the living room, she saw Lance, wearing only his boxers that usually slept in, placing a picture frame of some sort on the table in the living room. It was the one of Lance as a boy and Edward, smiling together.

Lance smiled as he heard footsteps of a girl, trying to be as quiet as possible, sneak back up the stairs.

"Goodnight, Ilana," he said quietly to himself. As he was going back up the steps, he turned to look back at the picture of Edward and him.

"And goodnight, Dad. I'll see you at 2:00 am tonight."


End file.
